Welcome to DWMA!
by Turtyrus
Summary: This is a FanFiction of Soul Eater in which I have put my friend Kyler (Ac: Emily x Kyler) and Jose (No account) to give them an better idea of how writing is done (To the extent of my knowledge). In this story Kyler comes to DWMA to help his friend Jose have a Meister, for Jose has trouble resonating with anyone else so Kyler come to help!(ish). Updates whenever. Only 4 parts.
1. Chapter 1

Kyler was very nervous on his train to Nevada. The fat man that fell asleep an hour ago was currently leaning his head on Kyler's shoulders and drooling a little, making Kyler's nervousness increase as well as dampening his coat. Not only was the train running late by at least thirty minutes he was also having a "slumber party" with Java the Hut.

"We will be arriving to our stop in 15 minutes! We apologize for the delay." The announcer spoke through the speakers.

"Thank god." Kyler muttered, which caused the man next to him to stir.

…

_A few days prior…_

"You want me to what?" Kyler asked completely surprised. He was sitting in the counselor's office at RHS. He was called in during 3rd period and was presented with an odd request. He was currently talking to Ms. Evans, a spiky haired woman who has been working with the school for so long, no student actually knows how long she has been in the work. Some students like her, some don't. Kyler was in between.

"We wish for you to attend DWMA." She asked him. She was sitting at her desk with her hands formed in a finger pyramid while Kyler sat there with his school binder, which currently had a picture of Dark Magician Girl on the cover.

"Your friend Jose Granados joined there about 4 to 5 month's ago, as you know."

Jose Granados was one of Kyler's friends all the way back from freshman year. They had known each other since middle school, but became best friends when they both entered high school. But when Jose's arm suddenly turned into the muzzle of an assault rifle after 3 months into his senior year during class, he was forced to be sent to DWMA. This was rushed unfortunately when he accidently fired his gun-arm and shot soul energy at one of the fellow classmates, Aaron. The energy shot aimed directly at Aaron's head but he ducked in time to avoid the shot, but not lucky enough to go without some damage. Aaron was walking around with a reverse Mohawk for some time after that. It's still unknown to Kyler weather or not that shot was intended or indeed just an accident.

When Granados left, Kyler went through a hard time without him. He talked to him on Facebook often but it was not the same thing as face to face. Also with Jose having to do a lot of work at that school, there conversations were limited.

"Yeah, of course I do." Kyler replied.

"Well, your friend has been in a lot of training since then. He has actually been showing a lot of progress in controlling his powers, as I have heard."

Kyler already knew this from Jose from Facebook. "Yeah, I already heard that from him."

"Well, it would seem that he was problems being in sync with students there." Ms. Evans said.

"Sync?" Kyler didn't know what she meant by that.

"Down over there the students, the meisters and weapons, must have some sort of connection between souls in order to become more powerful when needed." Ms. Evans leaned back into her chair and let her hands drop to their sides, but the business on her face still remained. "Unfortunately for Granados, he cannot resonate with any meisters there as of yet."

"He can't connect with them?"

"He can get along with the individual wielder just fine, but he cannot connect through the bond of the soul." She gave a small smile to Kyler. "And that, Kyler Jones, is where you come in. You are one of his best friends, so if you were to go over there and become a meister you both may be able to resonate. Or so I'm told."

Kyler just stared at her. "I couldn't be able to fight like that! I don't know a lot about what all goes on in that school, but I do know that most of the students can take on a whole damn army!"

"A little of an over estimate, but yes, they are very skilled fighters. You may not be a fighter, but they can teach you everything you need to know over there." She raised a hand as Kyler tried to protest. "We are not going to force you on this. We would like your decision when you are ready to give it. Until then, go to back to class. Give us your decision within three days."

And with that, Kyler got up and went to class. He walked out and saw Dalton sitting in the office (Again) to talk to Ms Evans about his behavior problems (Again). When Kyler went back to his class we half listened in and thought about what he should do. He had friends here still, but his best friend was currently in Nevada. Jose wasn't too excited to go in the first place, but then he got the messages from Jose and was now having a great time. He made a few friends there, but he still told Kyler that he wished he was there.

Then, Kyler thought about his current situation in life. Though he was good in band and NJROTC, but other classes… not so much. The school had already told him that he would have to go another senior year in order to graduate, and he personally didn't want to go through that. And his brother wasn't exactly the most pleasant of people toward him. Also, this could put a little excitement in his life.

Now _that_ thought caused him to raise an eyebrow. He is in school everyday, doing the same routine everyday, and going back onto his computer everyday. Whereas over at DWMA they _literally_ fight monsters. And he gets to be taught how to _fight _those monsters. Kyler's face broke into a grin. He had made decision within 20 minutes.

…

"Please get there soon, _please _get there soon, _PLEASE _get there soon…" Kyler kept repeating to himself, as the man next to him is now holding Kyler like a teddy bear and is drooling more profusely with a small grin. Kyler was breaking past red on the uncomfortable meter and is now in "GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" on the meter.

The train suddenly stopped, causing the fat man to fall forward on the ground much to Kyler's relief. "We have now reached our destination. Thank you for taking Extreme Speed Railway."

"'Extreme Speed', my ass!" Kyler muttered as he quickly grabbed his bag from above his head in the luggage carrier. He stepped over the large man, who only stirred a little then kept sleeping on the floor.

As Kyler walked out of the train with the rest of the travelers, he used a rag to dry off his jacket while he kept repeating "Grossgrossgross".

He dropped the rag in the nearest trashcan and hauled his suitcase behind him. Jose told Kyler to meet up with him at the entrance of the building, but Kyler didn't know the layout of the place.

"Lost?" A voice asked behind him. Kyler turned around to see the owner of the voice. He saw a petite girl with pony tails wearing a school uniform with a pair of gloves and a trench coat that looked a little too big for her. She had a smile on her face that also made her emerald eyes glisten.

"Yeah." Kyler said, blushing at his ears. "I'm looking for the entrance of this place. I'm new to here, so…"

"Oh, ok." She said then pointed to the ceiling above and behind him. Kyler turned and saw a large sign with "ENTRANCE" and a large arrow to follow that direction. "Just follow that and you'll find it."

"Oh…" Kyler muttered feeling stupid. "Thanks." He said and walked away.

"I hope you enjoy your visit here!" The pony tailed girl called behind him. Kyler was too embarrassed to even wave back. He just followed where the signs needed him to go. As he looked around he noticed that nothing seemed too weird as he walked down the hallways. He imagined everyone looking… well… not normal. But everyone went about there business in attires that people back in Riverbank would wear.

"Hey, dude!" He heard a call. Kyler turned his head and saw his large, Mexican friend. Jose was around the same age as Kyler but a little younger. Jose had short black hair and was a little taller then Kyler, and was currently wearing a thin white jacket and a pair of blue shorts.

"Jose!" Kyler called back with a smile and speed walked over to Jose. As they approached each other they pulled into a quick bro-hug.

"Dude, it's been hella long time." Jose announced.

"Yeah, it really has been."

"I'm surprised mama and papa even allowed you to be here, man! I thought they would have made you stay at RHS."

Jose would call Kyler's parents mama and papa along with him. "It was _very_ hard to convince them. I barely got the chance to even come here."

"I bet." Jose said then turned. "Come on let's go back to my place. Train must have been a bitch."

Kyler grabbed his bag and trailed behind him.

"By the way, what's with the sweat stain on your shoulder?" Jose asked.

"It's not… I don't want to talk about it." Kyler replied and quietly followed.

…

The walk through Death City wasn't bad. Kyler and Jose walked throughout the city and Kyler spent that time looking at the scenery. He saw various shops and restaurants that he had never even heard of such as "Chupa Cabra's",the local bar of the place. The duration of the walk, Kyler and Jose talked about old times as well as current events. Kyler talked about things that has happened back in Riverbank with other friends, and Aaron was still angry about the shot to his head, and that made Jose laugh. It was almost as if Jose never left in the first place.

"We're here, dude." Jose said as he pointed to the large apartment building and went up the stairways.

"I noticed you don't call me 'Kid' anymore." Kyler said as he followed Jose inside the building. Jose has called Kyler "Kid" since they started hanging out in the first place.

"It's… confusing. There's actually a student named 'Death the Kid', so if I start calling you that again it would just be confusing."

"What kind of name is that?" Kyler asked amused by this.

"The name of the kid who's dad owns the place, and could kill you without any effort."

Kyler nearly dropped his bag down the stairs. "Oh…"

"Yeah, it's best not to mess with him. That and he could kick your ass too." Jose stopped going up the stairs and then walked down a hallway.

"I could take him on." Kyler said confidently.

"No… no, you couldn't." Jose said matter-o-factly. He brought out a pair of keys and they jingled in his hand as he brought them out and searched for the key to the door.

"Hey, Jose-Kun!" A voice called down the hallway. They both turned and Kyler was especially surprised to see who had called them. Approaching them was the same girl that had helped Kyler not even an hour ago. She had the same smile she had when she had talked to Kyler not even an hour ago. Behind her was a… boy or girl with short pink hair and was wearing a long tight form fitting dress/robe that reached his/hers shins. The pinkette was hiding slightly behind the ponytailed one.

_Is that a boy or girl?_ Kyler pondered but thought best not to ask.

"Hey, Maka." Jose replied casually while still searching for the right key. "How's it going?"

"Good. I just picked up Crona from the train station." She used her thumb to indicate to the pink haired one behind her. Crona just nodded slightly at the mention of his (Kyler dubbed "Him" as).

"Hey, you could have told me, I was actually just there today to pick this bitch up." Jose said with a nod in Kyler's direction.

"Hey!" Kyler responded offended.

"That's mean Jose-Kun!"

"Hey it's alright, he knows he is."

"Fuck you, bitch!" Kyler said in his direction.

"'The fuck you say, bitch!?"

"I said fuck you, you slut!"

"You wanna go, you cum bubble from a faggot monkeys ass!?"

"Bring it, you ratchet skank!"

Jose and Kyler then stared each other down with glares. Maka looked between them, not sure what to do and Crona hid more behind Maka and said something about how he didn't know how to deal with this. Then after a moment both Kyler and Jose laughed hard, causing Maka and Crona to sweat-drop.

"Maka…" Crona began asking.

"I don't know, Crona."

"Anyway, Maka this is Kyler, my best friend from back home." Jose unlocked the door and opened it.

"Oh, I know him! He's the guy that got lost at the train station!" She said with a laugh.

"Really, Kyler! You got lost as soon as you got here?"

"Hey, this is the first I've been here, cut me some slack!"

"Well, it was nice meeting you Kyler-San!" Maka said with a wave and used her key on her own apartment. "Oh, did you finish your work for Steins class?"

"I'm going to finish it tonight." Jose assured her.

"Okay. See you tomorrow!" Then she and Crona went into her apartment.

"I have a question…" Kyler began.

"I don't know if it's a girl or guy, Kyler. I'm still trying to figure that out myself." Jose said as they both entered, Kyler closing the door behind him.

…

"Dinner's ready." Jose said as he walked back from the door where the pizza guy dropped off his delivery. A few hours have passed since they first came back to the apartment. Kyler's mouth filled with water as the aroma of pizza filled his nose. Jose sat in the chair across the couch where Kyler currently resided and dropped the fresh box from Pizza Hut on the coffee table between them, and set down a 2 liter of Pepsi.

"Kyler, I bring you… _meat lover's pizza!_" And Jose opened the box as if its contents were a gift from the gods themselves.

"Hell yeah!" Kyler said as if he were in pure ecstasy. They both grabbed a slice with a string of cheese still clinging to both of their slices. They both took a bite and savored the flavor of it.

"This place isn't all that bad. And we can both live here for free?" Kyler asked.

"As long as we keep up in our studies and get at least decent grades." Jose pointed an accusing finger at Kyler. "So you better not fuck this up, man. Actually do your work."

"I actually do my homework and schoolwork Jose." Kyler responded defensively. "It's just with all the trips to the doctors that I haven't been really able to keep up with my work."

"Whatever. Just keep up here." Jose leaned back in his seat. "You still blind in your left eye?"

About a year or so back Kyler slowly started to lose vision in his left eye. It was color blind at first but then the sight started to fall shortly after, but Kyler has been able to cope with it. Doctors still have a problem in figuring out how this has even happened, and Kyler has stopped being bitter about it has accepted the loss of his sight.

"Yeah." Kyler said.

Jose nodded. He slowly put his hand in his jacket pocket and absently brought it back out with something in his hand. Jose opened his hand to reveal it being an eye patch. He tossed it onto Kyler's lap and he looked at it with confusion.

"It's on school record, and if you want to be here you're going to have to wear it."

"Okay." Kyler said then slowly brought the eye patch onto his head. It fit well onto his head and the cotton fabric on his face was not uncomfortable, so he has no problem with it.

"How does it look?" Kyler asked.

"You look like a gay pirate." Jose confirmed.

"I appreciate your honesty." He said dryly.

"So, you like Maka?"

Kyler's face turned into a frown. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Dude, your ears turn red when you blush and they were when she said hi, there red even now."

Kyler brought his hand to his ears. "Shut up."

"Look, if you want to ask her out or some shit, I don't care, but her dad will have a big problem with you. He has a problem with every guy who gets near her."

"It can't be that bad."

"He nearly got me evicted just because I live next to her! He's kind of crazy."

"Seriously!?" Kyler was shocked.

"I swear to god, dude. He's one of the higher ups at the school, so I wouldn't go on his bad side if I were you."

"Noted."

Jose stood up after eating three slices and stretched. "Well, we should be going to bed soon. We can play a bit of Xbox before we do if you want."

"Yeah, sure. We playing Minecraft?" Kyler said as he got up to follow him."

"Actually I got a new game yesterday and I haven't even played it yet. Fallout: New Vegas."

"I heard about it but never actually played it. I heard it's a good game."

"Well, let's find out."

…

Maka was sitting down and watching TV with Soul, her albino scythe partner, and Crona with Ragnarok, his weapon within his blood, perched on his* head when they heard shouting from Jose and now also their new neighbors apartment through the wall behind the TV.

"Oh, shit! You can chop up their bits!" They heard Kyler shout in awe.

"This game is so fucking cool! Let's see if we can use the 9 iron to play golf with their heads!" Jose said with glee.

"Let's do this!"

"HEY!" Ragnarok shouted and shook his tiny fist. "KEEP IT DOWN YOU BITCHES, WERE TRYING TO WATCH TV!"

…

_The next day in the morning…_

"Hello, hello, hello! ~" The large individual dressed as comedic Grim Reaper said. "Nice to finally meet you Kyler-Kun!"

Kyler and Jose were currently standing in Death's room (Jose had told Kyler that this was basically the principles office) and the person in front of them was indeed Lord Death himself, Shinigami-Sama to others. He was a tall man in a black robe and had hands that seemed to be unnecessarily large and had a skull mask that was more humorous then frightening. Jose had told Kyler that morning before they left that Lord Death would have to meet Kyler before he actually roamed about the place.

"I've heard some good thing's about you from Riverbank High School before you came here, Kyler-Kun." Lord Death informed him.

"Wait, really?" Kyler beamed.

"Nooope! I lied!" Lord Death's body turned to the right as he said this.

"Aw…" Jose laughed at this.

"But, all jokes aside, how was your trip here?" He asked as he straightened back up.

"It went fine, I guess." Kyler said and rubbed his shoulder in memory of the slimy feel.

"I thought you said this one fat dude-" Jose began.

"SHUT UP!" Kyler muttered loudly.

"Well, that aside, it seems that you have some training from NJROTC and I trust that you know how to use an ordinary rifle as well, correct?"

"Yes sir. I was brought to the shooting range a few times, and I can shoot pretty well." Kyler confirmed.

"Good, good! But I imagine that you have had no practice with a demon weapon before?"

"Well…" Kyler rubbed the back of his head and looked at Jose for a moment. "To be honest, when we found out Jose was a demon weapon, me and him did a little practice."

"And how did that go?"

"Uh…" They both looked at each other as they recalled the past attempt.

…

"_Okay Kid, quick! Pull the trigger I'm not sure how long I can do this for!"_

_Jose was able to hold his form for a short amount of time back in the day before he was shipped to DWMA so he told Kyler to meet with him in the country part of the town, where there were nothing but vast fields of green grass and cows roaming about on his friends farm (The fact that Jose was even able to go into his full form says many things)._

"_Okay, I got this!" And then Kyler picked up Jose in the form of an M16 assault rifle. There was a target set up, stacks of hay with a crudely drawn white and red target, about 12 meters away and Jose spent the time Kyler took setting it up to keep trying to transform until he could do it completely. _

_Kyler picked up Jose and hoisted it on his shoulder and aimed him to fire at the hail stack. _

"_Okay, I'm aiming… aiming…"_

"_Hurry, Kyler!" _

"_Okay!" _

_And then Kyler pulled the trigger. A quick fire of energy shot at the hay stack and made a hole through it… and went further and the remainder of the energy hit a cow that was not to far behind it. The energy wasn't as concentrated as it was when it was immediately fired but there was enough of it left to set the cow on fire. The cow then shrieked and ran about in a pain filled panic. Kyler however did not really have the energy left to feel worry about this as that one shot completely drain him of his soul energy causing him to drop Jose and fall on his back completely and totally physically exhausted._

"_OW! Don't drop me, asshole!" Jose complained and then suddenly flashed back into human form. The hay behind them then caught fire from the energy left behind inside. Jose looked back and saw Kyler then was immediately worried._

"_Kyler! Dude, are you alright!?" Jose crawled over and examined him. Jose's brows furrowed as he sniffed the air. "Why do I smell hamburgers?" _

_The cow behind them stopped shrieking and finally fell over to the side and continued to burn. _

…

"Oh." Was Lord Death's only response as he heard all this from them.

"Well… it could have been worse. Probably." Kyler said now scratching his eye patch. It was starting to have an annoying itchy feeling. Jose nodded to Kyler's statement.

"Well!" Lord Death announced and brought his large fingers together in a pyramid. "This actually proves to be a good thing!"

"It was good that we burned a cow?" Kyler asked.

"No. That was a monstrous way to kill an innocent animal and you both should be ashamed." He stated flatly, making Jose and Kyler sad.

"But, the good news is that you can at least use Jose as a weapon! Most other meisters had negative reactions with him. Some could not pull his trigger-"

_That's what she said! _Kyler said mentally.

"-some kept getting shocked from soul energy when they attempted to shoot with him, and some just simply could not lift him off the ground."

"Why not, though?" Kyler asked curiously.

"Your friend here just simply cannot connect with people on a soul wavelength. However, after your story from earlier, it shows that you can use him. The drain you felt that day was just from lack of experience from this sort thing, but as long as you're here we will give you the proper training!"

"Thank you, sir." Kyler said and shook hands with the Reaper.

"Now, you two go to your classes. Jose-Kun, Kyler-Kun's schedule will be the same as yours so be sure to guide Kyler to his classes."

"Yes, Lord Death."

"Now off you go!" Lord Death said waving them off. "I hope you enjoy your first day here, Kyler-Kun!"

Then Jose and Kyler walked down the guillotine ridden hallway.

…

Kyler followed Jose down the hallways of the school, Jose walking around without a problem as he knew the layout of the building. The hallways were way to alien compared to those of Riverbank High. Well, that would be the case give n that RHS is an outdoor school, but just the same Kyler was like a lost lamb here, and Jose was currently the shepherd.

"So, who's the teacher for our class?" Kyler asked.

"Franken Stein." Jose said. "He's a hella smart doctor and he can really fight. He can learn to use any weapon. Other then you, he was able to use me. It's thanks to him that I was able to find out a bit about my potential and the shit I can do."

"Oh he sounds pretty cool."

"Also he can go bat-shit-crazy at times and likes to dissect animals. He's probably teaching right now."

"Oh…" Kyler stated.

"And he doesn't just dissect animal's, he also dissects people at times. He might even dissect you." Jose said flatly.

"Wait, what!?" Kyler panicked.

"And by the way, before you ask, I'm not kidding." Jose said while suddenly opening the door that came up next to him. Kyler complained about Jose needing to wait for him to catch up as he opened the door.

"And that's why…" A voice was interrupted. Kyler walked up behind Jose and got a good look at the classroom, and Kyler paled a little. The class room was probably about double, maybe even triple the size of any of the classrooms then those back at RHS. The number of students would have been around the same as any class back home but with the wideness of it, the students were spread out (with steps to even more rows of seats with students) the number of students seemed to be bigger, making much more unsettling then necessary. But what unnerved him more was the tall, white haired man staring at Jose and Kyler (Mostly at Kyler). He was wearing a doctor's coat and was over 6 feet tall. His skin was pale and he had stitch lines over his body… an as well as his cloths, oddly enough. The class went silent upon Jose and Kylers entrance.

"Jose. You are 20 minutes late." The man said without emotion, but staring at Kyler with a look that was hard to read.

"Sorry Dr. Stein, I was in Lord Death's room talking about the new student." Jose said nodding to Kyler making him pale a bit more. "We know each other from Riverbank, so he asked me to show him around."

"Ah. I see." Steins features softened only the slightest. "Lord Death must have forgotten to inform me about this, but no matter. What is your name?" Stein asked as he walked to Kyler, making Kyler feel like he was shrinking.

"K-K-Kyler Jones, sir." Kyler said, instinctively raising his hand for a handshake. Stein stared at Kyler's hand, making Kyler wonder if maybe it was a bad idea to raise his hand.

"Doctor Stein will do, as all the other students call me." Stein said taking Kyler's hand into his and shaking slowly and firmly, much to Kyler's relief. "Perhaps your name is on the rosters and I have just missed it." Stein walked back over to his desk and looked at a piece of paper with the students names.

"Jones… Jones… ah, here it is." He said and used a pencil to check off a name. "Your seat will be next to Jose. If you would please sit down, so I may go back to teaching the class." He said and waved to two empty seats.

"Yes, Dr. Stein." Jose and Kyler said at the same time and they walked up the steps toward their appropriate seats.

"Oh, Jose…" Stein called. Jose turned his head. Dr. Stein's features turned menacing as he looked at Jose, making Jose go wide eyed and pale. Even Kyler felt fear from the gaze.

"Please do not interrupt my class so rudely again." Stein said with his emotionless voice, but his look said a thousand words, and none of them were pleasant.

"Yes, Dr. Stein." Jose muttered and quickly turned to back to the stairs, Kyler right behind him. Dr. Stein nodded and went back to his teachings. Kyler sat next to Jose as he sat down and looked down to see Stein looking at the chalk board, making Kyler feel relieved. That man already scared the living _shit_ out of him.

Kyler felt a nudging at his side and looked toward Jose with curiosity. Jose stared at the doctor but nodded to the rows down below. Kyler turned his attention down. He saw Maka, Crona, and others he didn't know down their, but Maka was looking up at him, without her trench coat or gloves, and waved at him. Kyler waved back slightly blushing. Maka turned to one of her companions and nudged her and said a few words too low for anyone to hear. But then the girl turn toward Kyler and his eyes went wide. The girl was of Asian decent like Maka, but she was taller (Possibly more then Kyler) and had long black hair pulled into a ponytail. And her eyes were a deep shade of blue that made Kyler drift into them. She smiled and waved to Kyler, and he waved a little faster then he did with Maka.

"Dude, if your ears get any redder, you could probably cook an egg on them." Jose whispered. Kyler instinctively put his ears in his hands.

"Jose, shut up! You'll make me look bad."

"You don't need me too. You can do that by yourself." Jose said grinning.

"Fuck you, ass-"

Kyler's sentence was interrupted when a _shing!_ sound whirred passed both of their ears which followed with an audible thud. Kyler and Jose both looked where the thud came from, and they saw a scalpel stuck into the wall. Kyler and Jose slowly turned their heads toward the front of the class and saw Stein staring directly at them with a cold stare. Kyler was slightly positive he had shit himself.

"Kyler…" Stein said again emotionless. "To be the second interruption of the class is not something you would like to be remembered for on your first day here, so I would appreciate it if you would stay quiet like Jose when requested."

_He talked to me too, dammit! _Kyler thought, but thought best not to talk. He simply nodded and said: "Sorry Dr. Stein. Won't happen again."

"You best hope so." Dr. Stein went back to the chalk board.

"You got in trouble!" Jose whispered in a singing tone.

"You should have been, too!" Kyler sulk singed back at him. He looked down toward the black haired girl and Maka and they both shot an apologetic look before looking back in front of the class. Kyler's interest in Maka diminished a bit, and his interest in the black hair grew.

…

Time passed through the classes until the bell rang to indicate lunch time, and by then Kyler's stomach was growling for food.

"Finally, I can get some food in my system. I'm starving!" Kyler said as he followed Jose out the classroom door and into the hallway that was crowded with students.

"Maybe you shouldn't have skipped breakfast like a dumbass, and you wouldn't be as hungry as you are now." Jose commented. "You spent the first hour before heading over here playing Fallout."

"So did you!" Kyler said pointedly.

"Yeah, but I remembered to eat a Hot Pocket in between, bitch!"

"Anyway, what do they have to eat here?" Kyler said trying to change the subject. He followed Jose into a big room that with the sound of trays and eating, Kyler assumed this was the cafeteria. Jose talked to Kyler as they got in the lunch line.

"They have, like, a little of everything. People from all over go to this school, so they have a variety of things to eat. I heard the cafeteria workers go into overdrive just to keep up with the demands."

"So if I were to ask for something very specific…?" Kyler said with a mischievous smile.

"You would be an asshole for making the workers do more work then they should, because knowing you, you would want to get a simple cheeseburger."

"They have cheeseburgers!?" Kyler said, his stomach growling and him drooling slightly.

"Yeah, so just chill until you can make your order." Jose said facing back to the line.

"YAH-HOO!" Was shouted and it echoed throughout the room. A majority of the students in the room ignored it, some sighed (Including Jose) and others turned to the sound, all of this to Kyler' confusion.

"Is everyone ready to see a real star!?" The voice shouted and then a spiky, blue-haired boy in a ninja get up appeared on a table close by and took an epic pose that actually made him look more like a fool. "Behold, and be ready to be in his divine presents, the one, _the only_…" He stayed quiet as if there were a drum roll playing in the background. "BLACK*STAR!" He announced. The only person clapping was the black-haired girl from earlier, much to his surprise.

"And a person as big as myself, I will surpass…"

"Uh, Jose?" Kyler asked still utterly confused.

"That's Black*Star. Ignore him, it makes it easier." Jose said in an irritated tone toward Black*Stars direction.

"That's not it. Who's the girl clapping? She was the one who waved with Maka, remember?" Kyler asked.

Jose took a look and he broke into a grin. "You're seriously over Maka already?"

"What can I say? The tits brought me in." Kyler said with a hand on his chin, as if taking in a piece of artwork.

"Dude, you're an asshole. Just because Tsubaki has bigger tits-"

"HEY!" Black*Star shouted. "Don't interrupt greatness!" The ninja then kicked a tray full of food at Jose and food splattered all over on his head and torso. Kyler looked in shock. Tsubaki (Kyler remembered) was surprised as well and yelled at Black*Star about not being rude.

Jose spat a bit of mashed potato's that had fallen into his mouth and said quietly and calmly: "You wanna go, bitch?"

"Ohhh, so you challenge a man who will surpass god?" Black*Star said with an evil grin.

"NO! NO HE DOESN'T!" Kyler shouted at him then looked at Jose. Jose's expression was that of a man waiting to strangle someone. Black*Stars was happy maniac but it was still just as frightening as Jose's (But still not even _close_ to frightening as Steins). Everyone remained quiet through this.

"You bet your ass I fucking challenge you." Jose dropped his tray and turned his hand into a muzzle of an M16, surprising Kyler that he could control it that well.

"Black*Star, please…" Tsubaki begged.

"Jose, man, don't." Kyler said grabbing his non-transformed arm. Then Jose flashed into light then formed into the full weapon in Kyler's hand.

"We'll both take you on!" Jose announced in his new form.

"WAIT, WHAT!?" Kyler shrieked, his voice cracking.

"SO A 2 ON 2, HUH!?" Black*Star seemed evilly gleeful. He extended his arm and ordered Tsubaki to transform.

Tsubaki signed and simply agreed in a resigning tone. She transformed into a chain-scythe, and his pose made his appearance menacing.

"Okay, Kyler, you ready for this?" Jose asked, rearing for battle. Kyler took this moment to ponder on the choices he had for this situation and chose the most appealing one:

Kyler turned and ran as fast as he could in the other direction, fear pumping much more blood into his heart.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" Jose shouted as Kyler carried him as he was now running down the hallways. Behind them the wall broke down, making many students cry out in surprise at the explosion like sound. Kyler looked behind himself and saw a cloud of dust trying to clear. When the dust cleared up more, Kyler could make out a form standing in the cloud. When he could make out the form of a weapon in the forms arms, he thought better then to wait and ran down the halls again.

"YOU SEE!?" The voice of Black*Star shouted behind him. "This isn't even a _taste _the power that I, Black*Star, will show to…" Black*Star stopped talking when he noticed that they weren't in the hall anymore.

"HEY! I WASN'T DONE TALKING!" Kyler heard a shout as he continued to run. The rage in the voice made him go into full sprint.

"KYLER, WHY ARE YOU RUNNING!?" Jose asked angered. "Let's kick his ass!"

"HE JUST BROKE DOWN AN ENTIRE WALL, I'D RATHER JUST RUN!" Kyler shouted. He didn't dare take a look behind himself.

"If were here, were going to have to learn how to fight! That's why you're here, remember?" Jose said irritated. "And so that you can use me as a weapon!"

"I didn't even take any fighting classes here yet! And at this rate, I'm not sure _if I'll live long enough to do that!"_

"Don't be a pussy, Kyler!"

"Don't put my fucking life on the line!" Kyler retorted.

Then suddenly the wall ahead of them broke apart like before, and standing in the wreckage was Black*Star himself.

"OH FUCK!" Kyler shouted, his bladder threatening to release on him.

"Did you really think someone small like you could run from someone as big as me?!" He announced (again) as he raised his weapon over his head, looking toward the sky as if he were looking into heaven itself. "I AM BLACK*STAR!"

The word "Fuck" ran through Kyler's head over and over again in a panicked tone. Kyler took a quick look around at his possibilities. Going back was not an option. The hallway was too long to run back to, and he wasn't even positive if he could break through walls like Black*Star was able to. He wondered if he could possibly speed past Black*Star to run away down the hall as he was originally doing, but considering the fact that he was able to speed through the walls and get ahead of Kyler proved that Black*Star was obviously much faster then Kyler is. And it's not like Kyler could go through the ceiling-

Wait… the ceiling?

Kyler looked up at the ceiling and thought if what he was about to attempt would be a good idea. But then he remembered that he didn't really have any options left.

"Kyler, do something!" Jose shouted at Kyler. Kyler then aimed the demon weapon at the ceiling.

"HA! YOU FOOL!" Black*Star boasted. "Why are you aiming at the ceiling when I am in front-"

Kyler pulled the trigger and fired. Like last time, a large ball of energy (Instead of energy pellets) and fired it at the roof above them. The blast was not as powerful as last time, but this proved to be more useful for the situation. The blast destroyed the roof above them and the debris was oncoming on top of Black*Star. The blue-haired ninja let out a short scream before he was under a pile of concrete and wood framing.

Kyler was about to yell out in victory in both stopping Black*Star and keeping his pants unsoiled but, like last time, he suddenly felt extremely drained and couldn't help but fall backwards onto the ground, panting like a dying dog. Jose transformed back into his human form and kneeled next to Kyler and Jose had a small grin and put a hand on Kyler's shoulder.

"Dude, that was awesome, I have to admit."

Kyler didn't have the energy to even say an agreement to that statement, so he simply nodded.

"Come on, lunch is still on for another half-an-hour. I'll spoon feed to some soup or something." Jose said, picking up Kyler and brought his arm around his shoulder and hoisted him up.

Then the debris behind them shifted making the both of them turn slowly around to look. Coming from the shifting rubble was spiky blue hair, and a set of eyes that looked beyond pissed off.

This time he just growled as he raised his weapon.

The fact that he was not boasting this time scared the living hell out of the both of them.

"I think he's snapped or something." Jose said whispered.

Black*Star raised his weapon and it started to change shape with shadows forming around the blade. The air started to feel heavy for the both of them as they stared at the ninja.

"Black*Star!" The weapon shouted. "This is going too far! Please, stop!"

He ignored the plea of his weapon and raised it over his head. Kyler and Jose could tell that they were royally fucked.

Then suddenly Black*Star was covered in electricity and he contorted and screamed, then fell down, slightly smelling like bacon. Behind the fallen body standing there was Dr. Stein being plain faced as ever. His hand was extended and energy was surrounding his hand, but it receded within moments. The doctor then stared at the fallen form of the boy then looked at the two students.

"Are you alright?" The doctor asked.

Jose could only nod, and Kyler didn't have a choice but to let Jose speak for him.

"Black*Star, you should know better then to use your full power on other students of a lower level." Stein said to the body of said individual. Tsubaki then transformed back into human form, with a saddened look on her face.

"I'm very sorry, Dr. Stein." Tsubaki said her tone very apologetic. "I didn't think he would go that far. I tried to stop him…"

"It is alright Tsubaki. Given Black*Star's nature, this incident was probably caused by him to begin with, am I right?"

"Y-yeah." Tsubaki said nodding. She then pointed to Jose and Kyler. "Kyler-Kun and Jose-Kun were talking during one of Black*Star speeches and… well…"

"Black*Star was being Black*Star?" Stein asked plainly.

"Yes."

"Well, other then damage to the building, I do not think any students were injured, except Kyler."

"Wait, Kyler got hurt?" Tsubaki asked with worry.

"Nah, just drained after he used up to much after using me." Jose said, Kyler silently agreeing.

"You and Kyler did this?" Stein asked looking at the mountain of rubble beneath his feet.

"Most of it." Jose admitted, about to rub the back of his head with the hand holding Kyler but then remembered at the last moment what the hand was currently and caught himself before dropping Kyler.

"Hmm. Interesting." Stein said with interest. But by then Kyler didn't even have the energy to even keep himself conscious and even using anything he had left to hold on to Jose fell away, and then he fell into blackness as he dropped onto the ground. He could hear the sound of worried voices and running feet as the blackness took him in.

…

Kyler had trouble opening his eyes in the lit room, as the light was currently his enemy as he tried to wake up. He was uncomfortably aware that each of his limbs felt like they were made of led filled bricks, and him trying to get up proved to be extremely difficult. And to add to this, his head felt like it was inside of a vice grip. Yep, he was currently miserable.

"Owww…" Kyler moaned bringing his hand to his face, feeling his eye patch under his hand. He was starting to get very used to the fabric on his face.

"He's awake." He could hear Jose say.

Kyler opened his eye and saw nothing but blurry images. He focused until the blurs formed into shapes of people. When everything was clear he looked around the room. Next to him sitting in a chair was Jose, with a relieved expression. He also saw near the foot of his bed Maka, Crona, and the albino guy from earlier. They looked relieved as well as Jose.

"Glad to see you're among the living." Said the albino one in a laidback tone.

"Where the hell am I?" Kyler asked groggily.

"You're in the infirmary." Maka said. "You passed out after the whole Black*Star incident. How do you feel?"

"Like I got bitch slapped by a freight train." Kyler said, than turned to Jose. "Where's Black*Star?"

Jose nodded to the bed next to Kyler. Kyler looked and saw Black*Star lying there unconscious with a bandage on his head, and it looked like it was swollen to hell underneath. Next to him was Tsubaki, who waved to Kyler briefly.

"What happened to him?" Kyler asked out of curiosity. After previous events, he didn't really care about the boy's wellbeing.

"Maka gave him a Maka Chop." Jose said. Kyler looked at Maka as she brought out a very large book with a patch of blood on the spine.

"I actually do this to him about 4 or 5 times a day." She said.

"How long was I out for?" Kyler asked sitting up with a little trouble.

"About an hour and a half." Jose said. "The nurse had to leave to attend to some business, but she said that if you felt up to it you can go back to class. If not you can rest here or I can take you back to the apartment. What do you want to do?"

Kyler brought his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. He wobbled a bit, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was when he fought Black*Star.

"I think I'll be fine." Kyler said.

"You sure, bro? If you need to keep resting…" Jose said.

"Nah, I'll be fine." _I think._ He added mentally. "What's the next class?"

"Field training." Maka said coming up next to him. "You and Jose-Kun have that as the last class of the day as us." She looked at Kyler with some concern. "The class has a meister and weapon pair go against another. Are you sure you're up to this, Kyler-Kun?"

"Yeah." Kyler said.

…

Though as it turned out it was a bad idea. Kyler had been paired with some British man with a wooden club partner (Who had the speech pattern of Moose from the Archie comics). Before Kyler could even raise his weapon, the student used his club partner to hit Kyler in his stomach. Kyler's eyes shot wide open in shock of the pain then he threw up and fell to the ground.

Jose then turned back to his original form and kneeled next to Kyler the second time that day. "I told you that you should have rested, dude."

The sparing partner's weapon turned back into human form. His size was bigger then Steins but not nearly as menacing.

"Duh, I thinks we's hurt 'em too hard." The man said, clearly lacking intelligence.

"No, my large friend, I held back with that swing." He said his accent thick. "Our opponent for the day must have exerted himself in before now."

The British student then kneeled next to Jose, his large brutish kneeling behind him as well.

"I say old chap, are you alright?" The British student asked with concern.

"Yeah, just tired. Long day." Kyler said trying to regain his breath.

The British student nodded and looked back to the teacher supervising every other fighting student around them. "Oh, instructor! This man needs a break."

The teacher nodded then pointed to the benches. Jose was about to shoulder hoist Kyler again but the large student was quicker and actually laid Kyler on his shoulders and led the British student walked ahead of him and the brute followed along with Jose behind. The brute then set Kyler gently down. At this point, Kyler didn't care that he was carried.

"Me is sorry I's hurt you so's bad." The brute said, his tone that of a bad student apologizing to a teacher.

"Its okay, bro." Kyler said.

"Well, wish we could stay and chat, but me and my partner must be on our way back to the field." The British student said, and turned to leave, his partner behind him. "Cheerio!"

Jose sat on the bench with Kyler. "You think you'll be up for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I just really need to sit down." Kyler said his pain still apparent.

"You should have gone home to begin with." Jose said again.

"I know, I know." Kyler said with a wave of the hand.

"It's not cool to exert yourself." Said a familiar voice. Kyler and Jose turned to see Maka and Soul coming up to sit next to them. "If you need rest, get it while you can. This isn't even the worst of it, it will get even harder from here, so you have to make sure that your up to the training."

"Soul is right, Kyler-Kun." Maka said.

Kyler only remained silent. After about 5 minutes, Maka had an idea. "Kyler-Kun, Jose-Kun, follow me." Maka said standing up, Soul following but looking a little confused. Kyler and Jose had the same expression but decided to follow.

"Teacher, we'll be over there!" Maka called and the teacher nodded with a grin.

"Sure thing, Maka!" Then went back to watching the students.

They walked a large distance away from the rest of the students.

"Maka, I'm really not in a fighting condition today." Kyler explained.

"I know that, but bare with me for a moment." Maka said then stopped where she stood.

"Jose-Kun, turn into your weapon form." Maka said.

"Alright…" Jose still seemed confused but did as he was told and transformed into a weapon in Kyler's right hand.

Maka nodded in approvement and pointed at a lone tree. "Shoot it."

"I don't think that's a good idea…" Kyler said.

"You didn't let me finish. When you shoot, don't just pull the trigger." She explained. "I want you to try to feel for Jose-Kun's soul."

"That's not exactly something I can do." Kyler said simply.

"With that kind of attitude, of course you couldn't." Maka said in a slight scolding tone. "Look, just close your eye, okay?"

Kyler did as he was told and closed his eye, darkness being the only thing that he could now see.

"Now I want you to just leave your eye closed, and clear your mind. Tune everything out except the sound of my voice."

Kyler took a deep breath and tried to just recede in his mind. Then out of nowhere he felt a hand on his shoulder, making him jump for a second.

"Stay calm! It's just me." Maka said, the one who is currently holding his shoulder, making his ears turn red. He hoped to god that she doesn't notice it. "I'm just going to help you feel for your soul by connecting with your wavelength."

Kyler didn't need any kind of special power to know that Jose was trying desperately not to laugh at Kyler's nervousness. Kyler did his best to ignore that and just concentrated on what he was told to do. For a few minutes Kyler felt nothing and remembered that he was not able to eat anything because of the fight at lunch and thought that he would get a cheeseburger after school. Then he felt a weird tingling sensation and had a hard time trying to find out where it is. Kyler finally gave up and asked Maka what was happening.

"You're feeling your soul." Maka said. "You're new to this so you wouldn't have been able to do this right off the bat, so that's why I'm connecting with you, so you can feel not just your own soul but those around you. Well, for this moment at least. How do you feel?"

"Tingly. Like a string is pulling somewhere inside of me but I don't know where."

"That's you." Maka said happily. "The sensation is different to some people for the first time. Keep trying to feel, I'll be right here."

Kyler felt deeper. The string gradually turned into a ball, forming somewhere inside of him. The orb was around the less then the size of a volleyball and of course bigger then a baseball. It was strange… feeling that ball was the same as looking through a mirror. Though it didn't stop there, next he was feeling even Jose's soul, then Maka's soul. Kyler felt personality and emotion from Jose's that he had known from a long time back, but feeling Maka's… he had felt kindness, a very warm kindness… but there was strength in there too.

"Don't concentrate on me, Kyler-Kun." Maka said. "Concentrate on Jose-Kun."

Kyler blush in his ears had turned crimson, but he felt for Jose's soul. When he was looking at Jose's soul, he could feel Jose. But then he felt something weird… he felt…

_Jose? _Kyler asked, not sure where.

_Kyler? _He heard back.

Kyler then jumped back and dropped Jose on the ground with a gasp. It got _way_ to real for him. Kyler then backed up holding the sides of his head feeling like his head was separating. Not in a painful way, but as if pieces of a puzzle were about to fall apart.

"Oh, shit." Kyler breathed.

"Are you okay, Kyler-Kun?" Maka asked, immediately alarmed. Soul had been watching the entire time, but when he saw Kyler freak out, he didn't seem surprised, soul just nodded with a look of recollection.

"Yeah, I just need a moment. That was _way_ too weird." Kyler said.

"I'm sorry. People don't really take it too well the first time, feeling there soul." Maka put a comforting hand on his shoulder. This time Kyler did not blush, he found the touch comforting.

"Jose, you okay man?" Kyler called.

Jose was still on the ground in his weapon form, unresponsive. This alarmed Kyler and he ran toward Jose, knocking himself out of Maka's grasp and he grabbed the M16 and shook it.

"Jose, are you okay?!" He yelled.

"Don't fucking shake me, bitch." Jose responded groggily. "Dude… that was-"

"I know." Kyler said. Kyler then turned to Maka who was now next to Soul again. "What was the purpose of all of that?"

"To give you a better idea of what exactly where get your power from. Now that you have seen it first hand, I hope you can visualize it better."

"Will that actually help?" Kyler and Jose asked at the same time.

"It's helped some people here at the school." Soul finally said after all of this. "It won't hurt to try."

Maka then pointed to the tree. "Let's see if you can do it."

Kyler looked at the weapon in his hands. Even though Jose didn't have a human body currently, Kyler felt as though Jose had given him a nod of approval. Kyler nodded back and held Jose to his shoulder and looked down the iron aim.

_Visualize. _Kyler thought. Kyler tried to remember that day back at the farm and then he remembered that ball inside of him. When he fired that shot at the tree, he fired too much at one time. So he tried to visualize that time. He imagined that the ball inside him has a container of water, and the water went through Jose. Kyler imagined that when he fired, he emptied the container of water too fast and the air bubble knocked him out. Now, the water container is full. He will not empty the water container too fast. He will empty the container slowly. He tried to feel the container-

_Wait; wouldn't this make Jose a squirt gun? _Kyler thought. He tried to refrain from laughing.

He needed to concentrate. He was going to empty slowly. He took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.

Four different bullets shot out and hit the tree with a thunderous sound. Kyler had kept his eyes closed while he shot, and he didn't open them until he was done. He stood there while he waited for the backlash. He got tired suddenly, but not the kind of pass out tired like the last two times. He then opened his eyes and looked at the shot ahead. The tree had 4 large holes in it. Each one was of a different size, and it did not go all the way through the tree. Sweat was on Kyler's brow from the not so horrible drain, but he failed to notice.

He did it. He actually _fucking _did it.

"I didn't fuck up this time!" Kyler cheered and raised his arms in the air, Jose in hand. Jose then turned back to human form, his face clear with excitement.

"You didn't fuck up!" Jose cheered.

"I didn't fuck up!" Kyler confirmed.

They danced circles in joy. Maka and Soul watched this in amusement, and was happy for both of them.

Somewhere far off though, a red haired man in a black suit was watching them. He didn't like the fact that they were so close to Maka. Especially this "Kyler" person. He saw Kyler run up to Maka and give her a hug and lifted her off the ground in happiness. He saw that Maka was laughing with them.

"Touch my daughter, will you?" The red haired man, Death Scythe, or Spirit, growled as Kyler hugged his daughter.

…

"Dude, that was pretty sick." Jose said the umpteenth time as they walked back to their apartment. The grinning moon was out and giving a white glow on everything. After school they went and treated themselves to some McDonalds, and Kyler had treated himself to two Big Macs and two large fries, and Jose only had one of each of these. But given that Kyler had not eaten until then, Jose understood his hunger and was willing to pay for the extra (Kyler does not have any money of his own, but will have to get a job within the city soon). Then afterward they decided they should get a movie in while there at it and went to the theater to watch Dracula (They both enjoyed it very much). Then when it was around 8 p.m. they decided to go home.

"I know man, it was!" Kyler agreed also for the umpteenth time. "I wasn't even sure if I could do it."

"But you did, dude. You fucking did!" Jose said and played punched him in the arm. Kyler and Jose made it to the building and walked up the stairs. "But it's gonna get tougher, man. Just remember that."

"I know, but let's enjoy what happened for tonight." They got to the floor which they lived and walked down the halls. Just as they were walking past the door to Maka, Soul, and Crona's apartment Crona opened and walked out the door. Kyler and Jose looked at Crona and Crona looked like he was a deer caught in a headlight.

"Hey, Crona." Kyler said waving.

"What's up?" Jose also said.

Crona just muttered a "Hi" and speed walked past them to walk down the stairs. Kyler and Jose looked at each other and shrugged and went to walk back to their apartment. Kyler closed the door behind him as they walked in and latch the door.

"So you went from Maka to Tsubaki just like that?" Jose asked as he plopped onto his chair.

"I told you, the titties." Kyler said with a grin.

"Dude, that's pretty fucked up man." Jose said shaking his head. "I mean, you have been trying to get a girlfriend for the last, like, three years. If you finally get a girl to go out with you, what, you're going to just ditch her if a hotter chick comes by?"

Kyler didn't have an answer for that. He just looked down as he went to his bedroom and tossed his bag onto his bed and went back to the living room and grabbed the phone.

"Do you want to order pizza again or Chinese food?" Kyler asked.

"You're changing the subject." Jose replied flatly. 

"Because it's not your business." Kyler said plainly.

"It will be my fucking business if you piss off the wrong people! I'll have to back you up like I always do back home!"

Kyler has been known to get himself in trouble back in Riverbank, but the reason it's not well known to others back at their old school is because Jose was always there to cover Kyler.

"I never asked you to."

"No, you didn't, but I did it anyway because that's what best friends do, Kyler! Their there to help each other when they need help." Jose stood up and walked over to Kyler and grabbed the phone from him. "I'm not trying to start an argument, dude, I'm just saying don't do something to get yourself in trouble, all right?"

Kyler had no response to this.

"I'm ordering Chinese." Jose said as he dialed. "Also make sure you do your homework."

"I didn't get any homework today."

Jose just gave Kyler a look.

"Okay, I'll get it done."

…

Spirit walked down the halls of the school after hours to Lord Deaths room, his stomps indicating that he was angry.

_How dare he… how _dare_ he… _Spirit thought as he stormed down the hall. All of the sudden he stopped and he held the sides of his head and he stared hatefully at the ceiling as he had the image of Kyler in his head.

"HOW DARE HE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MY MAKA!" He shouted out loud and his voice echoed throughout the hallways, making the same statement come back to him again, quieter and quieter. He inhaled and exhaled loudly trying to get the breath he loudly let loose back.

"And who exactly is taking advantage of Maka?" A voice nearby asked, making Spirit jump with a quick shriek and he quickly looked behind himself. Behind him was Stein poking his head out of his classroom, with his plain expression looking at Spirit.

"Stein! Don't sneak up on me like that you scared me half to death!" Spirit complained.

"Coming from the man who, out of nowhere, shouted down in an abandoned hallway?" Stein asked with a raised eyebrow. "Shouldn't have I been the one to be scared because of your sudden outburst?"

"But you can't get scared!"

"No, I can feel fear. I just don't feel any reason to fear you specifically."

Spirit looked irritated and he looked the other way with a sour expression.

"But that aside, who are you accusing of taking advantage of Maka?" Stein asked walking out of his classroom walking in front of Spirit.

"It's that new student that transferred here today! The one from Riverbank!"

"You mean Kyler Jones?" Stein asked.

"Yes! That little fucker!" Spirit said growling again. "If I was able to get my hands on him…!"

"Spirit, I had met him today, and from what I've seen he isn't a bad kid. A little rude, yes, but not bad."

"You haven't seen him during the last class!" Spirit pleaded. "He hugged my Maka out of nowhere! And I can tell that he has things that he intends to do to Maka!"

"So, just because he hugged her, you think he is after her in a sexual manner?"

"Exactly! He is nothing but a horny teenager ready to attack!"

Stein just stared at Spirit for a moment. "Spirit, you say that just about any boy who even tries to hold a conversation."

"But I know this one is up to no good! He is probably trying to make some sort of plan to gain Maka's trust and then… do _things _to her as we speak even now!"

The image of Kyler laughing maniacally while using a pencil to write into a book with the title "To Get Under Maka's skirt" goes through his mind.

…

_At Jose and Kyler's apartment…_

"This sweet-sour pork is good." Kyler commented.

"So is the garlic chicken." Jose replied. "Want to try some?"

"I'm good." Then a spider falls onto Kyler's hand from the ceiling. Kyler screams and throws his food at it, while still screaming. Kyler continues to scream then falls off the couch he was sitting on, making Jose laugh so hard he nearly chokes on his food.

…

"I highly doubt that." Stein said after a moment of silence. "What about when she first met Soul Eater? You thought that he was trying to use Maka as well for quite some time."

"I still do!"

"You also said the same thing about Black*Star."

"I'll admit I over reacted a bit…"

"And Death the Kidd."

"Honest mistake!"

"And Jose Granados."

"And I apologized to the landlord for giving false information!"

"And the Mailman."

"He's got shifty eyes!"

Stein pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, I don't have time to discuss this with you, I have a lot of work to correct and it's going too probably take most of the night to complete, and I just want to get home and do it there. Marie is waiting for me to get home too. Just don't do anything drastic. The last thing you need is another lawsuit." Spirit tried to defend himself more but Stein cut him off. "Goodnight, Spirit." Stein then grabbed a briefcase from the inside next to the door then walked down the hallways to the exit.

"Tch!" Spirit walked down his own direction toward Lord Death's office, the only sound throughout being the sound of fancy shoes clacking. Spirit thought that Stein was wrong about this, that this Kyler did have bad intentions toward Maka. Yes, he is willing to admit that he had made _many _assumptions about _many _males, but he was sure- no, positive that this student was up to no good!

Spirit then opened up the door to Lord Death's room and walked down the guillotine hallway to his boss. Spirit just kept walking until he was at the back of the grim reaper.

"I am here, Lord Death." Spirit said respectfully.

The reaper turned around with that comedic mask looking at his subordinate.

"Hello, Spirit-Kun~!" Lord Death greeted. "How went your observation of the new student go?"

"I did as you ask an observed Kyler Jones during field training."

"And did he do well?"

"He got hit in the gut with a club demon weapon and went down."

"Ah. How unfortunate. That poor child." Lord Death shook his head in quick pity. "Though, I think it is best to still keep an eye on him. After what Stein informed me of the lunch incident, it would be best to keep Kyler-Kun under supervision."

Spirit nodded. After Kyler Jones showed some potential with a large fire with soul power, Stein had went to discuss this with Lord Death and the reaper had agreed that it would be best to keep an eye on him for the time being. But Stein had a class to teach so he would not be able to do this himself, and Lord Death had business himself that needs his attention. Spirit, however, had nothing to do so it was decided that he is the one to do this, much to his displeasure. But after he had saw the attention that Kyler Jones gave his, sweet, innocent Maka he thought that he was well suited for the task. All he needed to do was make sure that he does not go after his Maka- …

Spirit had an idea.

"Well, there is something else you have not yet let me mention, Lord Death." Spirit said with fake hope.

"Ah. Well do go on."

"My Maka went up to the benches when Kyler had to take a breather. She actually helped him get better!" Spirit said using the truth to his advantage.

"Better how?" Lord Death asked very curiously.

This is where he changes the truth a little. "As you know, he shot his energy in one pop, though this is good but still amateurish, Maka had helped him turn Jose into full auto!"

"Ah! Well, good for Kyler-Kun and Jose-Kun!"

"I have high hopes for the both of them. That's why, Lord Death, I have a suggestion."

"And what would that be, Spirit-Kun?"

"I think we should send them out on a mission!" Spirit was grinning on the inside.

"Spirit-Kun, missions are only for Eat Class, you know this." Lord Death said, his voice turning serious.

"I know that Lord Death, but the thing is I feel as though maybe that this will help them get a better grasp on what they will have to experience later! If they have the potential to exert as much power as they showed, it will make them strive to get better at this."

"It seems kind of unlikely. Why so much interest on this one student?"

"What can I say?" Spirit said shrugging. "I guess I see a bit of myself in him I guess."

"I'm not so sure about this Spirit-Kun. Even so I still think that this would be too much for them. Kyler-Kun _only_ started today."

"Come on, Lord Death, give them a chance!" Spirit begged.

Lord Death signed. "Guess I can't get you to change your mind, can I?" Lord Death straightened up. "Against my better judgment, I will allow this. But I do have one condition."

"Yes Lord Death?"

"Either an instructor or an Eater student must be there with them at all times. Is that understood?"

Spirit smiled. "Crystal clear."


	2. Chapter 2

_**This is where the horror genre comes in…**_

Kyler and Jose looked bitter while they sat in the back of a pickup truck on their way to LittleWood, a small town in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere in a state that their instructor Spirit still had not even told them. When Spirit came by to their apartment just before they left to DWMA informing them that they were suddenly ordered by Lord Death to accompany Spirit on a mission, they were more then surprised. And the look on his face as he told them this made them a lot more suspicious then excited, and the look that Spirit was giving Kyler as he informed them of this made him _extremely _nervous. Spirit had informed them of what they were ordered to do, of the forms of transportation (A dangerous, short ride in a plain, and currently a truck ride) and was quiet since then, ignoring any of their questions, especially questions on where they were going specifically, besides the name LittleWood which had made Kyler laugh out loud much more to Spirits displeasure.

"Jerky?" Jose had offered Kyler a bite from his stick of meat. Kyler just shook his head and continued to stare at his shoes. This morning was the first time Kyler had made had met Spirit and so far he wasn't really crazy, mostly just prickish. But the look on Spirit's face this morning that he was giving Kyler… it was a "you had this coming" kind of expression.

In the front of the pickup they heard Spirit and the driver laugh at some joke. The laughing was all they could hear. The only thing they could hear was the sound of the wind rushing past their ears as they were driving 45 mph.

"Hey! Teacher!" Jose knocked on the back window dividing them from the front seat. Spirit just looked back irritated as he opened the window.

"What is it?" He asked unpleased.

"How long until we get to LittleWood?" Jose asked.

"We should be there in about 10 or 15 minutes." The driver said after Spirit didn't answer. "Just hold a bit longer, kids."

Kyler and Jose nodded in relief.

"Yeah, it's not too cold out here, is it?" Spirit asked after his long silence. They both shook their heads uncomfortably. "Good to hear. Oh, by the way, Kyler…" Spirit said his name with a drawl, and Kyler just sat there and listened. "I'm glad my daughter could help you with your power yesterday. And when you were so happy that you gave her a hug, that was sweet of you." He said without emotion.

Jose quickly turned to Kyler with his eyes wide and Kyler immediately paled. Spirit nodded and closed the window and looked at the rode ahead.

"You asshole." Jose said shaking his head. "You fucking asshole."

"Don't get mad at me!" Kyler said raising his hands in defense. "You were there to, remember? That's all I did, I gave her a hug."

"And he is the overprotective, psycho type! That doesn't mix well for this fucker!" Jose said, a quick hard nod toward Spirit's direction. Jose pointed his finger at Kyler. "_You_ need to clear this up."

"I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Maybe not, but it was enough for him to make us go LittleWood, a town that we have never even heard of… and who's name keeps making you laugh- STOP FUCKING LAUGHING!" Jose shouted.

"I can't help it!" Kyler said giggling like a child. "Its name is too fucking funny!"

Jose punched Kyler in the arm ceasing his laughter. "Ow!"

"When we get the to our stop and when you have a moment to talk to him in private you fucking make this right. It might be enough for us to go home if you sugar it up enough."

"Alright, I got this, okay? Just chill out for now." Kyler said trying to reassure Jose. Jose nodded reluctantly and leaned back. The rest of the way there was quiet, except for the wind flowing past their ears at a fast pace.

They reached the town in the time estimated by the driver, and went to the motel that they will be sleeping later that night. They hoped off the truck and took in their surroundings. The town of LittleWood was like something you'd see in a movie that was about a little town. Downtown was full of stores that Jose and Kyler did not recognize. There was a flower shop called "Rose's are Red" and there was an old lady sweeping the front of her store absently. There was even a diner that looked as though it was from the 50's. The people of the town that were walking about had smiles on there faces, and the 5 o'clock sun made the town seem peaceful.

"I feel like I'm in a movie." Kyler said, not sure how to feel.

"Well, your film debut will have to wait we have a job to do." Spirit said as he finished giving the truck driver his money. He wished the driver a good day, and he grabbed his bag from his side and walked toward the inn. Kyler and Jose followed, and Jose stopped and realized something.

"Oh shit, the trucker has our luggage!" Jose shouted and ran down the road. Kyler just stood there for a moment then realization hit him and his eyes widened.

"Oh fuck!" Kyler said running after Jose. They ran about half a block but stopped when the truck driver made a turn in town and was out of view. They both groaned in disappointment.

"Tough luck I guess." Spirit said as they walked back up to the motel. He turned back toward the direction of the office. "Well, let's sign ourselves in then. The guy who sent the request should be here in an hour to talk to me."

"Wait, Mr. Death Scythe!" Kyler said catching up with Spirit. Spirit turned to look at the boy. "Look… you're Maka's dad, I get that, and I understand that you can be protective over your daughter. I have a few sisters that I can get over protective of myself. So I kind of understand where you're coming from. But please understand that I don't have any bad intentions toward Maka."

Spirit only stared at Kyler blandly. Then Kyler thought it would be best to ponder further: "Besides, I'm over Maka. I got an interest in another girl."

Spirit's eye twitched. Jose face palmed. "So you threw Maka to the side of you're mind like garbage?" Spirit asked in a coldly calm voice.

Kyler only paled as he realized what he said sounded. "I wouldn't put it like that…"

…

"Here you go, asshole." Jose said tossing an ice pack onto Kyler's lap. They were in a cheap motel room with a TV and two beds that looked older then they were. Above them a ceiling fan was spinning lazily in slow circles. The fan wasn't necessary for the current weather but the fan automatically turned itself on when they turned on the light and they could not find anything to turn it off. Also in the far corner of the room is an outlet that was supposed to be white but was black with possible fire. Jose and Kyler did not _dare _turn on the lamp plugged into it, let alone plug in there phones in that outlet.

Kyler was currently sitting on the foot of his bed with his eye patch taken off, and in place of it was a black eye that was beginning to form. The ice pack that Jose had tossed him was lifted up and held to his eye. It was hurting and the aspirin provided some relief but not much.

"I'm pretty sure that a teacher hitting a student is against the law." Kyler said.

"It's your fault for saying that shit the way you did!" Jose said loudly.

"He was giving me a look! I panicked, okay?"

"You cost us a possible trip back!"

"Possible, Jose! _Possible! _He probably would have made us stay here anyway!"

"Yeah but at least he wouldn't have hated you as much as he did! I'm pretty sure he hates you even more now."

Kyler took off the ice pack and pointed at his swelling eye. "You think? He has made it very clear!"

"And who's fucking fault is that?!" Jose shouted.

"Is this all you're going to do today? Just keep telling how much of an asshole I am?"

"Hey, I'm pissed off right now man. If he hates you he's going to automatically hate the hell out of me. And on top of that he still hasn't even told us what the hell were doing here!"

Kyler's brow furrowed. "Actually I'm not even sure he knows why were here. Someone's supposed to come here to talk to him about it, remember?"

"Wait… the missions description is supposed to go with it, so why would we need someone to tell us up front?"

Kyler shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, bro. For now what's on the TV?" Kyler said bringing the ice back to his eye and grabbing the remote. He pushed the power button and the TV flashed to life. To their displeasure, the TV was not in color.

"Fucking old ass motel." Jose muttered.

"We will be right back with 'Sex and the City' after these messages!" The TV announced. Kyler then turned it off.

"Nope." Kyler said simply. He then went to the radio alarm clock and turned it on. He then kept turning the station until he heard decent music. He stopped until he heard slow guitar music.

"Here they come to snuff the rooster…" Kyler shrugged and plopped backwards on his bed.

"You okay with this?" Kyler asked.

"Sure, I don't care." Jose said, bringing out his phone to play apps on his phone until there needed.

"Yeah, here comes the rooster, yeah…" The radio said. "You know he ain't gonna die… no, no, no ya know he ain't gonna dieee…"

Kyler's eyes slowly started to close themselves as he started to realize he was tired.

"Walkin' tall machine gun man… They spit on me in my homeland…"

Darkness then took Kyler into dreamland as the music helped him drift into sleep…

…

Spirit was sitting in his room staring at the TV watching Sex and the City when there was a knock on his door. He absently got up and walked to the door, remote in his hand. He turned off the TV and he opened the door.

The one behind the door was a man in a sheriff hat and a light brown dress shirt on with a leather coat over. He was also wearing a pair a khaki pants.

"You must be sheriff Matthews?" Spirit asked as he stretched out his hand for a handshake.

"Yes sir, pleasure to finally meet you." The sheriff said grabbing Spirit's hand back and shook it firmly. "You must be Death Scythe from that weapon-people school."

"It's called Death Weapon Meister Academy, and yes that would be me." Spirit said and let go of his hand. Spirit grabbed the swivel chair from the small desk in the room and rolled it the sheriff's way. "Sorry I can't give you a cup of coffee. I can give you a small cup of water." Spirit offered.

"That's all right sir, I'd rather just talk to you about our job for you." The sheriff said as he sat down in the chair offered. Spirit sat down at the foot of the bed.

"Yeah, odd thing about that too. It's not usual for us to take a mission unless you give a reason for the job." Spirit said with an arched eyebrow. "But we are going to give two students some lessons on the field and I came across this job."

"Wait, you brought kids here?" The sheriff asked surprised.

"Why are you surprised? We are a school, after all." Spirit said with an eyebrow raised.

"I was hoping you would bring someone professional." The sheriff asked holding the bridge of his nose.

"Your request only said 'Come to LittleWood, we need assistance.' If it was a serious problem that needed immediate attention, you should have specified the problem." Spirit said simply also a little irritated.

"It needs immediate attention, but I don't need a shit ton of weapon-people running about scaring my town." The sheriff said and stood up. "Look, I didn't plan to sit here and discuss it. I still have my car running so I can just show you what I mean."

Spirit just sighed and followed the sheriff out the door. He stopped to give a real quick to knock on the door on the room next to his. "Hey! You two stay in your room! I'll be back later."

"Okay!" He heard the Mexican one yell back. He could also hear faint snoring in there and assumed that Kyler was asleep.

The sheriff was waiting in the driver seat behind the wheel while Spirit hopped into the passenger side. The sheriff backed up the car and went onto the streets. There was no traffic in the way at 6:30 as the sun was set and the drive was going smoothly.

"You ever heard of Pineoaks city?" The Sheriff asked after a few minutes.

"Can't say I have." Spirit said with a glance at the sheriff. The sheriff just nodded.

They drove for a while after that in silence adding irritation to Spirit. They drove for about a good 15 minutes and the area was starting to get filled with tree's and fields. They stopped to a sign that told them that the road was closed due to construction.

"Guess we got to take a detour." Spirit said.

"I'm the one who put it there, Mr. Scythe." The sheriff said and got out of the car to move the sign out of the way.

"Isn't it going to be a dangerous ride then?" Spirit called from his window.

"Only if I go all the way down the road. But not because of the construction." The sheriff said as he got back in the car. He pushed on the petal and they moved forward again.

"Why, what's all the down the road? A pit fall?" Spirit asked.

"The construction sign is there just to keep folks up the rode behind us _out_ of the direction."

"And why is that?" Spirit asked getting irritated.

"Because of _that._" The sheriff nodded ahead of them. Spirit looked and saw that there was a fog ahead in the distance. Spirit just stared at it as they got closer. The fog became bigger and bigger as they got closer, making look a bit more menacing. When Spirit began to see shapes in the fogginess he squinted to try to make out the shapes he saw. The shapes were blockish upon inspection and the closer and closer they got Spirit made out buildings. They stopped a good distance away from it.

"This is it?" Spirit asked as he got out of the car.

"This be it." The sheriff confirmed.

Spirit just looked into it. "So what is this place?"

"This is the little town of Pineoaks, home of the Grizzly Bears. This place was a peaceful community, full of good people too. Back in the 70's we went against them every year for football, baseball, basketball, you name it. They won about half of the time too, or so I've heard. I was only a baby then, so I wouldn't know for myself."

"Then this mist showed up and people disappeared?" Spirit guessed.

"About a few months back, yes. Our boys went over here to check it out and none of them came back. I think the same thing may have happened to the other town down the ways. A few of the teenagers and kids disappeared into this place too."

"You said that this has only been happening for a few months but you refer the 70's as if that's when things got strange." Spirit said looking at the sheriff.

"That is when things got strange. It got even worse when Pineoaks came back."

"Came back?" Spirit asked confused.

"We _used_ to go against them, Mr. Scythe. The reason we couldn't is because this town disappeared back in 1972."

Spirit got a chill up his spine. He looked at him with disbelieve. "Disappeared? What the hell do you mean _disappeared?_"

"I mean this city was flat out _gone. Houdini'd._ It came _back_ a few months ago." Sheriff said calmly.

"Why didn't you inform anyone at the academy?" Spirit asked loudly.

"My dad did when he was sheriff. Your academy looked over the whole place and all that was there was nothing but green fields so your Lord Death just put it as a lost cause. But then when we heard that people were going missing down this road we went to check it out and then _this,_" The sheriff pointed to the fog. "Was now here. We couldn't fucking believe it. And as I said, we sent four police cars in there to search the place and _none _of them came back. A handful of distraught families came about because of this, Mr. Scythe. Though we just told them they fell down in the line of duty."

"You didn't tell anyone about this?" 

"Shit, no. Only the boys back down at the station know about this. If the citizens of littleWood found out about this, it would cause a massive panic. And not to mention the stupid kids that would go out here on dares in curiosity. You know how dumb teenagers can be."

Spirit briefly remembered Kyler Jones and Jose Granados. "Yeah, I know. But you said that kids already disappeared into this thing, right?"

The sheriff's lips were pressed into a thin line. "No one knows about this, Mr. Scythe. And yet kids and teenagers specifically are going missing. _That's _what's scaring me the most about this place."

Spirit and the sheriff heard laughter in the fog. They couldn't tell the gender of the laugher but it went from laughter to mad screams.

"There's someone in there!" Spirit said about to run into the fog.

"_Goddamn it, don't!" _The sheriff grabbed Spirit by the shoulder stopping him. Spirit looked at the man as if he were insane. The sheriff let go of Spirit and looked into the fog. The screaming faded away in moments.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Spirit shouted at the sheriff. "Someone needed help in there-!"

"_THERE AIN'T NOBODY LEFT IN THERE TO SAVE!" _Sheriff shrieked at Spirit. Spirit looked surprised at the sheriff and the sheriff held his face in his hands. "There isn't anyone left. At least anything _human._" The sheriff looked at Spirit with a pained look. "My son was in one of the four police cars, Mr. Scythe. Believe me, I want to go in there and see if anyone's left alive, especially Billy, my son, but that's not going to help. If four police vehicles couldn't make it in there, what the hell do you think only one of us can do?"

Spirit couldn't answer the man. The sheriff put his hands on Spirits shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "That's why you need a group of your people's professionals for this. Maybe they can do something. But more importantly you need to get those boys back at the motel _the fuck_ out of here. I don't know what the hell is driving that god forsaken Pineoaks, but whatever it is it goes after the children the _most_."

…

Kyler woke up with a scream. He had the weirdest dream… in it he was, for reasons that are beyond him, a giant walking cheeseburger running in a weird land that was entirely purple and there was a giant man running Kyler down, stomach growling like thunder. The man looked like the man that was with Kyler at the train station on his first day. What he shouted as he woke up had awoken Jose from a decent slumber:

"DON'T EAT ME I'M NOT DELICIOUS!"

Jose jumped up and looked around the room for Kyler. Thinking that Kyler was in danger Jose turned his arm into the muzzle of the M16 and was ready to attack. When he saw that Kyler was sweating profusely and sitting up right he groaned.

"Did you have a nightmare or something?" Jose asked irritated.

"Yeah…" Kyler said trying to recover his proper breathing.

"Bitch, you woke me up from a sexy-ass dream. It was hella awesome and you fucked it up." Jose complained.

"Listen, I just had a fucked up nightmare. Not the horrible fucked up kind, just the plain fucked up kind." Kyler said gaining his breath back.

"What happened?"

"… I don't want to talk about it."

"Dude, I had all kinds of bitches in my dreams. There was-"

"Wait, wasn't I the one asleep next to the door?" Kyler asked very confused. Jose had taken the door next to the bathroom because he had to use the restroom in the middle of the night whereas Kyler is a dead zombie in his sleep and used the bathroom in the morning. So Kyler had taken the bed next to the door and Jose took the bed next to the bathroom and they both fell asleep as such. But they both woke up in the opposite beds, much to their confusion.

"Dude, this is fucking weird." Jose said getting off the bed immediately uncomfortable.

"That's not the worst of it." Kyler said as he paled. "What the hell happened to our _room?_"

Jose looked at the room with Kyler and his eyes went wide. The room when they went in and before they were asleep was a cheery old school yellow with an orange line pattern with diamonds in it. The room was now a gloomy grey. No pattern. Just plain gray that made the room dark and gloomy. The lamp didn't have a shade on it and the screen on the TV was shattered. The room they were currently in was a complete mess.

"Jose, this freaking me out." Kyler said getting next to him. They looked around the room with slight fear. When they spotted the bathroom they took a good look at the door. The door looked darker halfway down and what they saw was unsettling for them. On the door was dried up crusted up blood with hand prints all over it.

"Let's get the fuck out of here." Jose said and went for the door. He tried turning the knob but it was not turning. He looked at Kyler with a pale face. "Dude, the door is stuck."

Then there was a slight jingling sound behind them. They turned and saw that the sound was coming from the bathroom door. They stood there for a moment looking. Then they saw that the door knob to the bathroom was trying to be opened from the other side.

…

Spirit and the sheriff drove over to the motel and Spirit jumped out of the car before they even parked all the way in. He ran over to the motel room that belonged to Jose and Kyler.

"Kyler! Jose! Are you both alright?" Spirit shouted. No answer.

"Don't you two fuck with me right now! Are you in there?!" No answer. Spirit pulled on the doorknob and tried to open it. "Oh god please be in there!"

…

"Jose, open the fucking door!" Kyler shouted looking at the jingling doorknob.

"I'm trying, kid, I'm trying!" Jose said, not realizing that he had called Kyler "Kid." Jose then grabbed Kyler and pointed to the door. "We have to ram it!"

…

"Open the fuck up!" Spirit shouted as he pulled on the door with all his might. He then turned his arm into a scythe, making the sheriff jump.

"That's it!"

…

Kyler and Jose took position a good distance from the door and prepared to ram into it.

"One… two… three!" They both shouted and sprinted at the door.

…

Spirit sliced the door in half and kicked it out of the way and ran inside. He looked quickly around the room to try to find the boys. He looked at the beds.

No one was in them. No one was in the room.

…

The motel door busted open and Jose and Kyler almost fell to the ground. Jose then quickly slammed the door to the motel just as the door to the bathroom opened.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god…" Kyler panted. "What the fuck happened?"

Jose didn't answer him. He just stared ahead of him and Kyler followed his gaze. The area around them, the cheery town of LittleWood changed. Everything was different. The diner across the street was replaced with some medical store. The parking lot to the motel was now filled with cracks and rusted cars that looked like they were left to decay for years to come. Then it came to them both: the room didn't change. They were in a completely different motel. But this was the most noticeable to them both:

The fog. The city was now encased in a thick fog, so thick that they could barely see the pharmacy across the street.

…

"Where the hell did they go!?" Spirit shouted as he looked everywhere in the room: under the bed, in the small cupboards, in the restroom: nothing. Any sing of them being there is gone. The beds they were lying on were made as if they were never in the room to begin with. Even the complementary pillow mints were placed neatly back on the pillow.

"Now calm down! Other folks will hear you and we don't need to cause a panic." The sheriff said behind Spirit.

Spirit whirled around and stared daggers at the man. "How the hell can I calm down when two of my students are gone?!"

"This is why we need someone professional, like I keep saying! Instead of panicking about the kids we need someone to go in there and get them."

"Has anyone ever come back from there?" Spirit asked as he sat down on the bed composing himself.

"No one has. That's why I'm hoping your folk will be a different story." The sheriff said as he went to the phone. He picked it up and had the cord dragging behind and placed it in front of Spirit. "Call your academy. Get someone in there to get those boys out of there."

Instead he stood up and walked to the bathroom making the sheriff confused. Spirit turned on the hot water on full blast waiting for steam to emerge from the sink. After a few moments the steam covered the mirror and then Spirit started to draw numbers on the mirror.

_Lord Death is going to kill me… _Spirit thought. _I hope to god the boys can survive. At least for a few days…_

…

"Where in the fucking hell are we?" Kyler asked in shock. All they could mostly see was the fog. They could see clearly ahead of themselves about 5 feet and it got foggier further. After about 30 feet they were basically blind.

"I don't know, dude. Why the hell would I?" Jose asked.

"I thought maybe since you were awake before I went to bed you may have noticed something."

"I fell asleep like ten minutes after you did!"

Kyler then put his hand on his chin and thought for a moment. "Maybe Death Scythe put this up as some kind of joke on us?" Kyler asked.

"Are you fucking retarded?"

Kyler thought it was best not to answer that.

"That's the kind of thinking that gets people killed in horror movies."

The motel door behind them banged so loud that they were sure that the door got knocked of its hinges. Though this did not happen the door did crack in the center and it followed up with a growling laugh.

"Jose…" Kyler said his voice escaping him. Jose nodded understanding and turned into a weapon in his hands. The door banged again and a chunk of wood fell from the door. Kyler turned and ran in the middle of the road and then turned right and ran as fast as he could in the fog. The last thing he heard was the sound of the door shattering into splinters and a strange growling sound.

"Where are we going?" Jose asked as Kyler ran down the road, avoiding old, rusted cars that were scattered on the road.

"Anywhere but there!" Kyler said running faster. Kyler was turning his head left and right as he was running trying to identify anything that looked familiar and found nothing. Kyler was sure that he had seen faces in the fog a few times, but he wasn't sure if it was because it was this fucked up place or because fear and adrenaline were the only thing making his mind run. It went like this for 20 minutes and Kyler was panting like an animal as he ran, Jose flailing in his hands as Kyler struggled to even keep them up.

"Kyler, it stopped following us, you can take a break!" Jose said.

Kyler ignored him.

"Kyler, seriously, take a break. You're flailing me around is making me sick."

"Not… until… we find… shelter…" Kyler said still running.

"There's a building up ahead. Let's stop there." Jose said swallowing to keep vomit down (Making Kyler even confused on how he can do that as a gun, but didn't ask on this). When they reached the steps of the building, Kyler tripped on the first step and fell on the rest. He turned on his back inhaling and exhaling loudly. Jose turned back into his human form next to Kyler and he shook Kyler.

"Dude, get up, we're almost there." Jose said shaking Kyler.

"I can't run… anymore bro." Kyler said in between breaths. "Drag me… inside."

Despite everything that had just happened Jose couldn't help but grin. "Lazy bitch." Jose said and shoulder hoisted Kyler.

"You're the… one who hitched… a ride using… me." Kyler said with a small laugh.

Jose had got a look at the large letters on the building "Pineoaks High School". He shook his head and went to the double doors and pushed them with his foot. It didn't budge. Jose just shook his head and he turned his free arm into the gun muzzle and shot the door with his own energy breaking apart the glass with ease.

"Hee-hee-hee…"

Jose turned his head to the sound of the laughter. He could have sworn it was the giggling of a little girl not too far away. Jose turned back quickly and carried Kyler into the school.

…

Jose had carried Kyler through the halls of the school keeping an eye out for anything that might come at them. Jose just kept doing this and when he thought it was safe he found a random well lit class room and went in there. They had entered a biology class room with the small dissecting tables and vials of random liquids and sat at two random desks, Jose closing the curtains in the classroom before doing so. They had also moved the desk in the room in front of the door.

"Something was watching us out there." Kyler said after he had regained proper breathing again. "I don't know what the hell is out there but whatever the fuck it is, it knows we came here. I kept seeing things watching us."

"I really want to call bullshit on it, but I don't think I can deny it." Jose said putting his hands in his head.

"Do you remember anything weird before you fell asleep? Anything at all?"

Jose shook his head. "All I did was fall asleep. Nothing happened." Jose then looked at Kyler. "I don't know how we got here, but we need to get the fuck _out._"

"Wait, can't you call Lord Death through a mirror or something?" Kyler said getting excited.

Jose's eyes went wide. "We can call for help!" Jose hopped off and looked around for a mirror. Jose went to the desk and searched through the drawers and he found a purse and he let out a grunt of success. He brought it back over to Kyler and he dumped the contents on the desk in front of him. The only thing that had Jose's attention was the small hand mirror.

"I got it." Jose then put the numbers 42-42-564 on the mirror after leaving hot breath on it to imprint the numbers. As Jose did this he looked to see what else was on the table. He picked up a small piece of plastic with a picture on it. He saw a picture of a blonde woman in an old style of cloths. Her name was "Jessica Robinson" according to the ID and she was 32 years old. When Kyler looked at the year of the ID his brow furrowed.

The ID is supposed to expire 1974. Why was it still in a purse in the school?

"Jose, check this out…"

"Hold up, I'm still waiting for Lord Death to pick up." The mirror shimmered like a water surface being disturbed like a rock. This went on for about 5 minutes and Jose was about to give up and set the mirror aside. "Fuck."

"Hello~!" The mirror suddenly roared to life with a picture of Lord Death within it. Kyler and Jose nearly tackled the mirror in excitement, trying to butt the others head out to talk to him.

"Were in an ass-ton of trouble-" Kyler said was saying.

"We don't know where-" Jose said at the same time as Kyler. 

"Hello~?" Lord Death asked this time.

Jose knocked Kyler out of the way with his body making Kyler fall to the ground with a thud and the sound of a desk moving. "Ah! Bitch!" Kyler yelled.

"Lord Death, we need help. BAD. We don't know where we are, we where in LittleWood when we woke up in this fucked up-"

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Lord Death asked and he brought his face close to the screen to try to look for anyone.

"We're right here!" Kyler said as he got back up to the desk and leaned on it for support. "We're right here and we need _immediate help!_ There are _things _out there walking around, possibly waiting for us!"

"Whoever is there, you should answer! It's not nice to ignore people you know!" Lord Death said as backed up and did his side body turn.

"_HELLO!_" Jose literally shouted into the mirror. He brought it into his hands and he shook it violently. "_We. Need. Help!_"

"Well, this is odd." Lord Death said as he rubbed his chin. "How is it that I see nothing but blackness? This has never happened before."

It felt as though an elevator went down 10 stories in their stomachs at high-speed. To say that they were scared would have been an underestimate: They were terrified to the core. Not only did they not know where they are or how they got there they have no contact to the outside. They felt like rats trapped in a big cage.

"Kidd-kun?" Lord Death asked as he turned around. Kyler and Jose didn't notice because Lord Death has not turned around until now, but there was a child standing there in a neat suit, crisp and clean. He also had three white strips in his hair on one side. "I'm sorry to interrupt our meeting, but this odd." The child walked up behind him and faced the mirror.

"This is indeed quite strange." Kidd confirmed.

"Not once in the time I have ever had this thing did it ever go blank on me." Lord Death said solemnly.

"Do you have anyway to trace the call?" Kidd suggested.

"I don't see why it couldn't work. Go get Sid i f you could, and Stein if possible. I'll need there help for this one."

"Right away, Father." Kidd said and ran down the guillotine hallway to do as he was asked.

When Kidd was gone Lord Death turned toward the mirror. "I wonder who _you_ are…" Lord Death said rubbing his chin. He then turned away and faced the hallway in silence, leaving his calling mirror the way it is. He knows that _someone_ has to be calling. It was also safe to assume that someone was watching him right now through it.

Kyler then slumped to the ground with a thud, not caring that his bottom was stinging from the sudden impact. Jose just sat back in the chair. They were both in despair.

"We're fucked. Aren't we?" Kyler asked in a flat tone.

"Maybe not. There going to find someone to trace this thing, there might be something they can do." Jose said trying to stay positive. Jose took another look at the mirror only to see the back of Lord Death. "All we have to do is keep this on and stay safe."

"Are we even safe here?" Kyler asked from his spot on the ground.

"Safer then the motel, I can tell you that much." Jose said making Kyler flinch at the memory of the thing that was in the bathroom (And Kyler was thankful to not find out what it is).

But one thing that Kyler kept looking at was the windows behind them. The curtains provided relief to keep sight from the outside inside and vice versa. But the logic of this played in his mind: If something like that… whatever in the world it was able to break down a motel door in two hits, what's to stop it from breaking the glass between them? The curtain prevented sight, not the windows destruction. And it also opened the bathroom door manually it just decided to break the door down to get it out of the way. The door to the biology room was locked and had a desk in the way, but it could be broken down as well, and Kyler and Jose were not experienced enough to fend for themselves.

The only way they can stay safe is if they stay quiet.

…

Spirit sat on the bed in his room with his head down, waiting for someone to show up. When he had called Lord Death and told him about the situation, he was not pleased. But Lord Death said that he would deal with him later and would send someone from the Eater-Class to help Spirit with the situation, someone with the ability to see souls. The part about the boys going missing made Lord Death give Spirit a look that was beyond the anger meter and said in it's own way "This shit again?!"

But the bit about the town, PineOaks… that part made Lord Death think about it. There might have been something about it that maybe Soul Perception could pick up that ordinary eye's can not.

_You get those boys back to safety as fast as you can._ Lord Death commanded in his comical voice. _Their lives may depend on it. As well as your job, if matters turn to be unfortunate. _

So now he was sitting waiting for the student to show up. The other instructors were busy with their own affairs, and Spirit didn't have it. The students in the Eat Class with it were sparse in a special class, limiting to maybe 10 to 12 bodies. Including his sweet, sweet Maka. That thought made him smile to himself. His Maka, his child, was even at the top of her class when it came to Soul Perception! This had made him very proud of her and he had given her a hug (Much to her disliking) in joy. He was so-

His eyes shot open at a thought. There were 10 to 12 students. Meaning he had a very good chance of encountering…

_Knock knock! _

Spirit sat straight up and he quickly turned his head to the door.

_Did Lord Death…? _

"Hello?" Called the sweet voice of the girl he knew since she was born from the other side of the door.

_Fuck!_ Spirit shouted in his mind. He slowly walked to the door and answered it. Behind it was the pig-tailed girl with the emerald eyes and her albino scythe partner standing next to her, looking bored. Maka looked at her father calmly.

"Hey papa." Maka said.

"Maka! How's my little girl doing!?" Spirit said and he pulled her into an embrace. She only grunted in annoyance in response. Spirit put her down and he put on the biggest fake smile he could. "Isn't this great? You get to work with you papa today!"

"About that…" Maka said backing up a little bit. "Lord Death didn't tell us what the job was. He said that you would explain in person."

_FUCK!_ Spirit shouted in his head. "W-w-well, there's a town nearby that is, for lack for better words, haunted in basic terms."

"Lord Death said that the mission isn't what should concern me, but the students that attended you on this task." Maka said with a glare. "And I think I have an idea of who but I would rather confirm my suspicions first."

_MOTHER FUCKER! _"Ah- well, there students that recently joined the academy…"

"Have me and Soul become acquainted with them in anyway?" Maka asked flatly.

"Ah, well…" Spirit said with a smile but the sweat dropping all over his hear and face said that the smile was false.

"What are their names, papa?" Maka asked flatly. Soul was just looking at Spirit with a bored expression.

"Ah…" Spirit was frozen. But he took a deep breath and shakily said the names of the students who accompanied him.

…

Kyler and Jose suddenly looked up from their spots in the abandoned biology room.

"Did you feel that?" Kyler asked.

"It feels like justice was served somewhere." Jose confirmed.

…

"PAPA, YOU IDIOT!" Maka shouted as she Maka-Chopped her father on the head with a very large book. Spirit had tears going down his face as he held his head in pain as he kneeled.

"I'm sorry, Maka!" Spirit cried. "I only had you're happiness in mind, I swear! I didn't trust that Kyler individual, I know he has bad intentions toward you! I-I-I brought him here to teach him a lesson."

"PAPA, he's only a new student!" Maka shouted at the man. "Why do you think every guy is going to harm me in some way?!"

"I saw him hug you…" He muttered.

"Yeah, he was happy that he was able to use his power! Papa, I don't have any feelings for him, and even if I did it's none of your concern!"

"I'm sorry, Maka!..." Spirit sobbed loudly once more.

"Forget it all that matters is getting them out of that place as soon as we can." Maka said turning to the parking lot. "Now where is this place?"

…

Kyler and Jose sat in that room for about 3 hours before Kyler's stomach growled. Jose jumped at the first sound in hours and he looked a little embarrassed that he jumped at such a simple sound. Jose's stomach growled shortly after.

"So, we're both hungry." Jose said.

"Yep." Kyler replied.

"Do you have any food on you?" Jose asked.

"No. Do you?"

"I have gum, but that's it." Jose said bringing a pack of Juicy Fruit from his pocket. "If you want to eat this, it's up to you."

"I'm tempted." Kyler said, actually drooling at the thought of eating the gum.

"I have a suggestion." Jose said turning to Kyler.

"What?"

"Well, we're in a school. And every school has a cafeteria…" Jose said hinting to the obvious.

Kyler's eye's widened in realization. "Hell no, uh-uh. I am not leaving this room."

"Come on, dude, I'm hungry and so are you."

"Yeah, but it's safe here, we have no idea if anything is creeping inside this place."

"It's been really quiet for hours now." Jose pointed out.

"Look, Jose, I think this is a bad idea." Kyler standing up as Jose went for the door. Jose pointed to a panel on the wall. Kyler followed his finger and saw that it was a fire escape chart.

"Dude, look, the cafeteria is down the hall," Jose said pointing to the right of the room to indicate the hall past the door. "And then we take a left and keep walking until we see the double doors. That's the cafeteria. And there's an exit in that room and windows if we need to bail."

"I don't know…" Kyler said still weary.

"Okay, how about this? I'll take the front and you can guard our back." Jose suggested as he turned his arm into his gun form.

"What the hell am I going to do!? You're my weapon!"

Jose looked at the desk that was blocking the door taking in the objects placed about the top. Jose used his human hand and grabbed a large object off the top of a stack of papers and tossed it to Kyler. Kyler took in the object that he grabbed reflexively and took it in.

"A paperweight." Kyler stated blandly and looked at Jose with a disbelieving stare. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Hey, it's something." Jose said as he moved the desk with a loud screeching noise following.

"What the hell am I going to do with this?! Beat whatever the hell might come at us to death with this?"

"Well, I wouldn't recommend _throwing _it." Jose said as he opened the door.

"That's the not the point!" Kyler almost shouted.

Jose ignored him as he went out in the hallway. Jose stopped with wide eyes as he took in the surroundings of the hallway. Kyler followed behind him, wielding the paperweight like a sword (It was the only pose he could think of if he couldn't throw it) and took in the hallway his arms falling to his sides. The hallway was completely wrecked. The lockers that lined the walls were scattered on the ground in sharp, metal chunks of steel and the walls were caved in on certain areas and the pieces of the wall were scattered about. But what bugged them the most was that there were claw marks everywhere. Light bulbs were shattered and the few that hung were flickering in and out of life. It did not even look like there was a struggle. Whatever happened, nothing even had the chance to.

"I didn't even see this. I must have been really out of it." Kyler said frightened. Jose whispered something but it was too low for Kyler to hear. "What?"

Jose turned to look at Kyler, his eyes still wide but he was so pale that he looked almost gray making Kyler flinch back. "It wasn't like this." He said slowly shaking his head.

"I don't follow." Kyler said taking a glance down the hallway behind him.

"When I brought you in here this was just fine. All it had was dust, but it didn't look _anything_ like this." Jose said and he was starting to breath heavy. "Now it looks like a fucking massacre out here."

"Maybe you just didn't notice-"

"Fuck that!" Jose shouted. "I know what I saw, Kyler, it looked perfectly fine when we came in here. I don't know how it got like this, I didn't hear shit!"

"Calm down, okay?" Kyler said calmly. "Lets just get the food, get back here, and keep waiting, alright?"

Jose slowly nodded and turned forward, walking over the wreckage Kyler behind him taking glances every few seconds to make sure nothing was there. Jose's current state was unsettling to Kyler. Jose had been there to calm Kyler down whenever Kyler was…

Well, being Kyler. And now Kyler was the one who had was trying to calm down his friend.

They reached the intersection of the hall and they both turned left. The hallways were just like the one behind them, wrecked and ruined with clutter lying about. Kyler just followed behind Jose and kept watch for anything behind them. They silently walked the halls, careful to avoid broken glass and shard pieces of plaster as well as jagged metal pieces. They reached the double doors and Jose opened it and looked inside. He looked back to Kyler (With a little more color to his face much to Kyler's relief) and nodded in approval. Kyler followed Jose into the cafeteria, a large room with tables everywhere as it should, and they walked slowly through the rows of seats to the trays that were supposed to hold food that was to be distributed to the high schoolers. When they saw the trays there was nothing but piles of hold and rot, some of them growing mushrooms.

"How does mushroom's sound?" Jose asked trying to lighten up the mood.

"Be my guest." Kyler said with a small grin. "You think the lunch ladies had some stash in the back?"

"Let's take a look." Jose and Kyler went around and hoped over a waist high door to the kitchen. The kitchen had a layer of dust on about everything but every utensil and pot and pan were in their appropriate places. They kept looking everywhere for anything that was edible but no avail.

"Hey, dude!" Jose called from one of the cupboards across the room from Kyler who was searching a cupboard himself. Kyler looked over to Jose.

"Find something?" Kyler asked as he walked over to Jose. Jose turned to him with a box in his hand.

"Animal crackers." Jose said as he brought up the box.

"Jose, that looks like its years old!"

"The box might be, but if it's still in its plastic bag it might be good enough to eat." Jose said as he opened the box. He looked into the box with a victorious smile and then it was turned into a frown of disappointment. Jose turned the open box upside-down and the contents poured out. The box showed that it was supposed to be brown, lively circus animals in the shape of crackers but instead it was basically black dust that poured into a pile at their feet. There wasn't even a plastic bag to come out.

"How old is the box?" Kyler asked. Jose looked at the box for the expiration date.

"It supposed to expire in 1973." Jose said with a sour look. "This is fucking bullshit." He dropped the box to the ground.

"Wait." Kyler said going over Jose into the cupboard he had already looked in. Kyler searched and pulled out another box.

"Dude, no way." Jose said looking at the box in Kyler's hands.

"A box of Twinkies!" Kyler said in excitement. Indeed, in their hands were the yellow spongy cakes of cream that has brought joy to many over the years.

"The box looks as old as the box of animal crackers." Jose said in disappointment again.

"Twinkies are supposed to last for a long time. I think it's safe to eat." Kyler said opening the box. Most of it crumbled in his hand but it was the packaging inside that he was after.

"You sure?" Jose asked still doubtful.

"It's all we got right now, don't hurt to try." Kyler said handing a package over to Jose. Jose shrugged and opened the wrapping around the sponge cake and Kyler did the same. They both brought their own Twinkie up and looked at each other. They both shrugged and they took a bite. They took a moment to taste the Twinkies to see if they would want to vomit.

"Not bad." Kyler said and he nodded in approval of it.

"Yeah, not bad." Jose agreed as he savored the flavor. "How many are there?"

"Uh… eight different packages. Two in each one though, so eight for each of us."

"Cool." Jose said grabbing another on from the box. They both ate in silence the only sound in the room being them chewing, swallowing, grabbing another Twinkie, repeat. They actually welcomed the silence this time. Just standing there eating Hostess food… for the time being, they were actually able to ignore the fact that they were… well, they still didn't even know where they were.

"Jose." Kyler said and Jose nodded waiting for Kyler to continue. "What's the name of this high school again?"

"PineOaks High School." Jose said with his mouth full.

"So we at least know we're we are at. Have you ever heard of this place?"

"No, and I already know you don't."

"You remember the thing I was going to show you earlier? When you were calling Lord Death?"

"Yeah, an ID or something, right?"

"The ID was supposed to expire in 1974."

Jose thought about it for a moment. "And the box of animal crackers was supposed to expire 1973. What does the box of Twinkies say?"

Kyler took a look. "1974."

The cafeteria suddenly had a booming sound coming from the double doors. Kyler and Jose dropped to the ground to avoid being seen and they both stayed silent. Jose used his elbows to scoot himself forward and Kyler followed behind. They stuck close to the wall to avoid being seen by whatever walked inside. Jose had put his finger to his lips and looked to Kyler to tell him to keep quiet. Kyler nodded. They both just listened.

The door could be heard closing silently on the other side of the room and the sound of shuffling feet was echoing throughout the cafeteria. It was a slow, dragging movement, and whatever it was it was breathing heavily a deeply.

Kyler and Jose's hearts were pounding so hard that they could feel it pumping in their throats. Sweat was dripping on the sides of their heads and they were doing there best to keep their breathing as quiet as possible but they wanted desperately to breath hard, the air felt like it was suddenly hard to gain access to their lungs. It felt like they were in a nightmare, it felt all like something that would happen inside of a dream, but it felt all to real to be such.

"H-h-h… h-help-p…" A harsh, whispery voice said in the room. The owner of the voice sounded as though he were already dead, making Kyler pale as he heard it. Jose just shook his head at Kyler to tell him to keep quiet. But Kyler felt like screaming. This was getting too much for him.

"My… m-my w-… wife…" They then heard a meaty thud and they heard the voice shudder and sob. "She's falling apart." Followed by a sob that almost sounded like a gurgle.

"I-I-I he-heard voices… is there anyone here?" The voice asked followed by another meaty thud and a gargle-sob. The voice coughed and hacked up what sounded like thick liquid.

"Oh, god…" Kyler muttered in a very low whisper. Jose picked it up and put his finger to his mouth, his face ash pale again. Jose then glanced over Kyler's head and Jose slowly pointed past Kyler. Kyler mistook this as _there is something horrible behind you _and Kyler violently turned his head to look. But what Jose pointed to was not something horrible but actually what will help them: A door that was an "Exit." Kyler looked back at Jose and used his hands to talk. They both knew a little bit of sign language and they would use this if they needed to desperately talk quietly. Kyler's mother was part deaf so he had learned some and he had also taught Jose some of this.

_We make it? _Kyler asked with his hands.

_Me don't know. Worth try._ Jose said back. _Here not safe._

_So is not outside!_

_You stay here then! Me go! _

_We not know what out there! _

_We know what in here, and here not safe! We go. NOW. _Jose moved his hands with a lot of force on the last word to exclaim the message more.

"I-is there anyone?" The voice said. It sounded like it was near tears. "Please… my wife… I need help… to put her back together…" He sobbed-gargled. "I _love _her."

Kyler looked to the direction of the voice then back to the exit then back to the voice. He looked like he was about to cry but he nodded then nodded to the door. Jose nodded in response and he ever so quietly crawled on his elbows toward the door. This involved making the process slower, but as long as they were not heard they were fine.

When Jose was out of the way Kyler went after him at the same pace. He looked at the door and thought about how far away it could be. He estimated that it could have been about 30 feet, give or take a few extra feet. All he had to was get closer, get through the door and he would be home free.

25 feet.

He wondered if what is in the cafeteria was actually human. Or at least was at one point. But he _really _didn't want to take the chance.

20 feet.

One thing that bugged him was that they didn't hear him in the hallway coming up. It should have been heard further back with all the debris lying around. And it was dragging on an injured leg, he was sure of that.

10 feet-

Kyler then accidently kicked one of the stoves. Just the echo from itself made Kyler freeze up in fear. Then a tray fell over loudly, making the entire room echo with a loud, foil sound. Jose looked at Kyler in disbelief. Kyler stared back at him with the same expression. The shuffling sound stopped for a moment. Then it followed up with a faster shuffle, getting louder as it neared in their direction.

"You were there!" The voice shouted.

"RUN!" Jose shouted then ran at the exit, Kyler getting up and stumbling behind him. They ran at the exit door and they rammed it open and they were out in the fog again. They could hear the one-half door open behind the door and they could hear the voice begging for them to help. Jose and Kyler then saw a large dumpster near the door and they both quickly ran to one side and pushed it. With the adrenaline rush, they both pushed it in front of the door with ease.

They stood a good distance from the door and they could hear it shouting.

"GET BACK IN HERE!" It shouted in an angered and still drowning voice. "GET BACK IN HERE AND PUT MY WIFE BACK TOGETHER!" Then it proceeded to bang against the door with loud, meaty thuds. Something rolled from under the dumpster and Jose and Kyler looked at it and out it to be a human eyeball. Kyler and Jose left, not wanting to find out weather it came from the man's wife or under the dumpster itself.

…

Spirit was quiet during the ride with the sheriff as well as Maka and Soul who were sitting in the back of the police cruiser.

"You know I always wanted to ride in the back of one of these." Soul said in the long silence. "I always thought it would be cool."

"That isn't something you should wish for, son." The sheriff said in good humor. "Getting in the back of a police vehicle is not something you should want."

"Still, just a thing that has got me curious." Soul had replied then all went silent again.

"So, do these youngsters know the drill about the PineOaks?" The sheriff asked Spirit.

"I have told them about the current situation and they are ready for anything. Right?" Spirit asked as he looked to the back seat. When he looked at Maka she gave him a glare and she turned her head to the window. Spirit slumped in his seat and he brought out a Maka doll that he keeps around in his pocket and his eyes watered as he looked at it. The sheriff looked at Spirit to the doll and the girl in the back. He shook his head not wanting to know.

After a little more time they had made it to the fog ridden Town. Soul and Maka got out and looked at it with an amazed curiosity as they themselves walked closer.

"Now don't get to close!" The sheriff said quickly as he got out with Spirit. The fog was still as thick as it was yesterday, still unchanging.

"Relax we know what we're doing." Soul said from his spot next to Maka. "Just stay there and be cool." Maka only remained silent as she looked into the fog. It amazed her on how it looked like it would never end.

"Is it really okay for kids to be doing this?" The sheriff asked leaning to Spirit.

"Don't worry, there at the top of their class. There the next best thing to any instructor." Spirit confirmed with a prideful smile.

"Be quiet papa, I need to concentrate." Maka said coldly. Her father slumped and sweat dropped.

"At the rebellious stage, eh?" The sheriff asked nudging Spirit with his elbow and a memorable grin on his face.

"I like to think so." Spirit said with glum.

Maka tuned them out as she closed her eyes. She emptied her mind of all thought and she concentrated on the town in front of her. She took a deep breath and let her Soul Perception become her vision. Faintly, somewhere very far away, she felt something. She concentrated. She then started to make them out and she was able to identify the source. She felt souls… and not just any souls.

"Kyler-Kun and Jose-Kun are still alive." Maka confirmed with relief.

"Oh thank god, I'm still in the job." Spirit said utterly relieved himself.

But then she felt something else and her eyebrows furrowed. She then concentrated on that so she could make it out. She thought she was probably wrong but what she felt was right.

"There are two other souls in there as well." Maka confirmed. "A human and non-human. I'm pretty sure it's an animal."

"How sure are you!?" The sheriff suddenly asked surprising Spirit.

Maka was silent for a moment to double check. "Yes, I'm positive now. A human soul and a… dog soul, oddly enough."

The sheriff looked happy for a moment then his face turned into a frown. "Best not get my hopes up."

"You thinking it might be you're son?" Spirit asked and he put a hand on the sheriff's shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure he's dead." The sheriff said his eyes watering. "It just feels like he is. I'm hoping maybe… it could be my younger kid. That's why Billy went, to get her back."

"There's something else too." Maka said her eyes still closed. "The town… it's literally oozing with madness. It's suffocating."

Maka then felt one more presence. She concentrated on it. But it began to do something odd. In her Soul Perception, the soul took form of a humanoid body, making her suddenly tighten up. This hasn't happened before. The soul then grew three lines on its face and they opened up as eyes.

_The madness…_ Maka thought in a panicky tone. The soul then lunged at her and she fell backwards screaming. She then opened her eyes and Soul was already next to her to urgently check on her.

"Maka, are you alright?!" Soul asked worriedly.

"The madness…" Maka breathed. "The Kishin Egg… there's something very wrong about it."

…

The boys walked through the fog once again aimlessly. When they come across a chain fence they walked around it until they found an entrance. They did and they went through it hoping for the best. Kyler had put the paper weight in his jacket pocket when they were eating and when they left that "thing" in the cafeteria he had kept his hands in pocket since then ready to use if needed (If it would even work at all). Jose did not have any need for a weapon given that he is one, making Kyler feel a tinge of jealousy for a moment.

They came upon a baseball field, most likely the schools they figured. The chalk square was faded away to almost nothing only leaving faint traces of white left making it look a little ghostly. The hill that the pitcher is supposed to stand on was kicked around and large clumps cluttered the ground. The grass outside of the square was long since dead, yellow grass almost gone itself. They walked to the center of the field and looked at the stands. They were rusted with age and looked like that if were to even set foot on it a Tetanus shot would be needed immediately. Hell, it almost looked organic.

"We should keep moving." Jose said.

"In which direction?" Kyler asked as he followed Jose out to the exit.

"Don't matter just as long as we don't end up somewhere out in the open like this."

The boys walked to the gate when it the chain fence gate closed itself violently fast, and was chained by itself. This all happened in the blink of an eye.

"GOOD AFTERNOON PINEOAKS!" The speakers roared to life with a loud screeching sound that made them cover their ears upon turning on. "WHEN I SAY 'GRIZZLY' YOU SAY 'BEARS'! LET'S DO THIS: GRIZZLY!"

Silence.

"GRIZZLY!"

Silence.

"GRIZZLY!"

Silence.

"GRIZZLY!"

Silence.

"THANK YOU EVERYBODY, YOU'RE JUST BEAUTIFUL!" The intercom said. "AND GUESS WHAT EVERYBODY, WE HAVE A CHALLENGER ON THE PINEOAKS HIGHSCHOOL BASEBALL FIELD TODAY, THE FIRST ONE IN OVER 40 YEARS!"

During the time that this was going on, Jose got tired of this and tried to hop the fence, but as soon as he grabbed the chained fence he contorted in pain and quickly jumped away, with a slight jittering. Kyler was sparks go across the fence, and knew there wasn't a way out.

"AND HERE, NEAR THE EXIT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IS TWO COMPETETORS FROM DWMA, BUT ORGINALLY RIVERBANK HIGHSCHOOL!"

Kyler and Jose turned at the mention of the hometown.

"LET ME INTRODUCE THEM, THE LARGE, AND SOMEWHAT INCHARGE MEXICAN IS…" Kyler and Jose heard a drum roll. "JOSE GRANADOS!"

A baseball field light turned on and aimed at Jose who was still trying to get over being electrocuted and acted as a spot light.

"HE IS A VICIOUS ONE INDEED FOLKS, HE IGNORED THE PLEAS OF A MANS MERCY TO HELP OUT HIS WIFE AND RAN FOR THE EXIT! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT FOLKS!? IS HIS REASON JUSTIFIED OR IS HE MEXICAN-HITLER!?"

Baseballs out of nowhere were being hurled at Jose and hitting him in various areas and Kyler tried to identify the thrower, but could see no one in the fog. That was enough of an answer from the "Audience."

"AND WE DON'T STOP THERE, WE ALSO HAVE THE OTHER ONE HERE TODAY AND HE IS ALSO REARING FOR A FIGHT! PLEASE GIVE A HAND FOR…" Drum roll. "KYLER JONES!" He said the last part of the name with a long drawl.

"AND IS HE AN INNOCENT UNLIKE JOSE?! I THINK NOT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! LIKE JOSE, HE IGNORED THE PLEAS OF MERCY, AND TO ADD TO THAT, HE IS THE REASON THAT THEY ARE BOTH HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND I THINK I CAN VOUCH FOR EVERYONE HEAR THAT OUR LITTLE TOWN OF PINEOAKS IS NOT FOR THE WEAK WILLED, AND THERE STILL BASICALLY IN TRAINING DIAPERS COMPARED TO THE OTHER STUDENTS THERE! AND IT WAS ALL BECAUSE OF HIM FOLKS, OUR VISTOR KYLER JONES!"

This time baseballs were thrown at Kyler and he did his best to dodge the. But one was able to hit his hand, almost hard enough to crack bone. Kyler cried out in pain and fell to his knees.

"Kyler, you alright?" Jose asked trying to see where they came from.

"I think." Kyler said looking at his hand. It was injured but not broken.

"Don't let him psyche you out, Kyler, its Spirit's fault that we're here. Just keep your cool."

"AND NOW THAT INTRODUCTIONS ARE OVER, WHY DON'T WE INTRODUCE OUR CHAMPION OF OVER 4 DECADES, PEOPLE!?"

There was a large thud coming from the benches that were just out of sight. The creak of benches on the verge of breaking from immense weight echoed followed by an inhuman grunting noise. Coming into view was the shape of it, which was somewhat humanoid. Heavy footsteps where coming into the center of the field. The boys only stared at it as it came into view and this was the only creature that they have actually seen.

The creature that stood into the field was tall… Kyler estimated 8 feet and Jose estimated 10. Its appearance was humanoid. All over its body was lumps of gray flesh, sagging with decomposition. The gender of the creature was not shown, but it looked as if it could have been male. But even with the sagging flesh the creature was incredibly skinny in an unnatural way. The creature's eyes were sewn shut to the point that the stitches were being covered by old flesh. It could have passed for a large dying human of not for the arm. The creature's right arm was instead of such was instead a large, organic looking blade. The blade started from the elbow and was the length of the creature itself. It stood there aiming its head at the boys, waiting.

"HE IS MEAN AND NASTY PEOPLE, THIS MAN MAY LOOK SICKLY AND DYING BUT HIS STRENGTH AND SKILL FAR EXCEED ANY MORTAL MAN YOU COULD FIND OUT THERE! HE SINGLE HANDEDLY KILLED AT LEAST 40 STUDENTS IN 5 MINUTES! THAT HAS _GOT_ TO BE A WORLD RECORD SOMEWHERE!" He then cackled like a child. All the creature did was stand there aiming its head at the both of them. "NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRL, WE ARE PINEOAKS HIGHSCHOOL, HOME OF THE GRIZZLY BEARS! AND WHAT DO WE CHANT!?"

"Kill…" Voices from the stands whispered, some of them giggling.

"Kill…" The creature muttered, barely moving its lips to do so.

"KILL!" The intercoms shrieked so loud that he was sure the speaker would go out.

The creature then ran clumsily at Jose and Kyler without warning with its blade arm raised high. The speed of the creature was inhuman despite its manner and Jose and Kyler barely had time to dodge. The blade chopped through the fence like it wasn't even there and was then wedged into the ground. The boys were on opposite sides of the creature and after it stuck itself and all it did was stay still like a statue making them uneasy. Jose ran to behind it to keep away from whatever view it had of them. Kyler saw this and quickly followed. The creature then shrieked like a madman and contorted and extremely inhuman speeds mostly in the arm trying to lodge itself out. Kyler and Jose ran far away from it within the fence trying to find any other way out. The creature continued to screech and contort violently. It eventually was able to get itself in this manor and it twisted so violently that it fell to the ground. But this did not stop it. It instead ran using its arm actually upping its speed.

Kyler heard loud grunting approaching behind them and he turned to see the creature very fast approaching, its joints moving in awkward ways. Kyler then sprinted yelling at Jose to run faster. The creature now caught up to the point that it was now running between them as they ran down the field. Kyler and Jose looked to see that it was now in between them and they tried to sprint faster in fear. It only laughed in a horrible deep voice and stopped for a split second. It then slammed its ordinary hand into Kyler literally sending him flying. Kyler screamed as he was in the air for a short time but eventually slammed into another chain fence and he was sure he must have broken a rib. But no, it was just unbearable pain he felt. He would have thought that he was severely lucky, but his mind was currently flooding with pain. He did not break anything, but it felt as though his back was concentrated pain. Kyler gave a silent squeal and he fell to the ground. He opened his eyes to see the creature was now running at Kyler on its two legs now. Kyler tried to at the very least crawl away but to no avail. He just closed his eyes, fighting back tears.

The creature roared and stumbled as a lightning sound shot through the air. Kyler saw Jose running with his arm gun out, steam coming out of the muzzle. The thing contorted again at frightening speed as it roared in anger that it could not get to its pray. Jose kept shooting at it in various areas of its body and it screamed in pain. The creature eventually stopped moving and just stayed still as Jose shot it making him stop as he saw the lack of movement. He walked slowly over toward the body with extreme caution, his breathing trying to be kept controlled. When he was close to the body he nudged it with his foot, the muzzle never leaving range of the creature. Jose had even shot it once for good measure in the head to see if it would still move. It did not. He then sighed in relief and went toward Kyler.

"You okay-?"

Jose was caught off guard when the creature's leg suddenly let out a fierce kick that had sent Jose flying just like Kyler. The creature then screamed again and flailed even faster which didn't seem possible.

"Jose!" Kyler shouted as he saw his comrade injured as he landed. Jose cried out as he landed, not being as lucky as Kyler. At least Kyler hoped not.

It then turned onto its stomach still screaming as it tried to collect itself. Kyler saw that it was looking eyeless toward Jose and Kyler knew that he was its new main target. Kyler forced himself to get up, much to his pain, and he tried to go after it as it itself slowly crawled toward the injured Mexican. Kyler took one step then fell backwards back to the fence making him groan. Kyler then saw something on the ground not too far away. He saw that it was an old wooden baseball bat.

"Take me out…" The intercom suddenly whispered in a hushed tone. The voice they heard earlier sounded like a human male, but the voice that was currently talking was demonic sounding. Almost like the monster with them right now, only worse. "Take me out to the _ball_ game…" It mocked.

Kyler extended his arm to grab the bat and his finger tips brushed it. He then scooted a bit more up making him cringe and he grabbed it by the low handle. The creature was starting to get faster as it crawled to Jose, its speed currently human. Kyler without thinking threw it at the monster. It landed directly on top of its head, a lucky shot for Kyler. Then it felt as though it went unlucky when the creature froze in a stop.

"Take me out with the crowd…" The intercom taunted. "Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks…"

The creature very slowly turned its head to behind itself where Kyler laid a good distance, but the fact that it completely turned its head with needing to turn the rest of its body frightened Kyler to the core. He then thought in hindsight that it was a bad idea to throw something at the terrifying monster.

"I don't care if I never get back… Let me root, root, root…" It giggled in a horrible tone.

The creature shrieked again and it was once again going after Kyler. Kyler only stared at it. The only thing he could compare the feeling he has feeling right now goes back to the saying about the deer caught in the headlight. And he indeed felt like the deer.

"For the home team… If they don't win it's a _shame…_"

The creature boosted its speed again to go after Kyler. Kyler only stared at it with a very pale face.

"For its one, two, three strikes you're out…" It then took a deep breath and shouted the last words with demonic hate so loud that the chain fence behind Kyler vibrated. "AT THE OLD _BAAALL GAAAME!_"

The creature was then shot again and it went down to the side. Kyler looked over at Jose with a relieved expression but Jose looked back with a furrowed brow. His look to Kyler said _it wasn't me._

The creature was shot as a sound came closer to the baseball field. Jose and Kyler looked to the noise and they saw a light come closer. The creature looked toward the light then back to Kyler. It roared in anger and impatience and went even faster to Kyler, struggling to get at him. The chain fence broke down as the light got closer and Kyler and Jose recognized the sound as an engine in work. The creature jumped and was about to attempted to land on Kyler but more bullets came from the oncoming truck and it stopped in mid air. It stayed in the spot when the truck finally rammed into the creature, and it went a good distance away from the hit. Kyler was able to see the driver side but all he saw was white hair and an assault rifle that he made out as a Galil (Thanks to Call of Duty he was able know this).

To his surprise the person to come out the truck was not an old man with white hair as he thought it might have been. When the owner of the pick-up truck opened the door and got out he saw that it was a… woman. And she looked no older then Jose and Kyler, possibly younger. She was wearing a cotton sweater with the sleeve cut off to the shoulder exposing her forearms, the skin being white and flawless. Her hair was shoulder length and smooth white. She was wearing a green skirt that made it up to her lower thigh but her legs were covered by black stockings and she was wearing old worn sneakers. And she was definitely not short. She stood around 5'11, two inches taller then Kyler but most of the high came from her long legs. When she was aiming the sight of her gun he could see that she was of Asian decent… and she had Violet eyes. She fired the gun at the creature repeatedly and it screamed and backed away with each bullet. When it cowered away a good distance from the bullets she spoke.

"SharpShooter, Bazooka!" She demanded the weapon. Her voice sounded like it could have been soft and kind, but as of right now it was cold and calculative.

The weapon in her hands suddenly turned into the Bazooka she requested, with a flash making Kyler and Jose looked shocked at the girl. She looked to Jose then Kyler then back to the monster as she aimed the weapon.

"What the fuck are you dickless-clowns waiting around for?!" She asked loudly with impatience. "Get in the fucking truck!"

The tone in her voice made Kyler and Jose get up, with some struggle, and they inched closer to the vehicle while their current heroine kept her eye on the ball (**A/N: Yes, I did a pun. Deal with it.**).

"Mama's come to put you to bed…" She muttered to herself with a sadistic grin. The creature then ran at the girl this time, but she showed no fear. She just pulled the trigger with no issue and a flash a fire came from the muzzle and a large round shot at the creature. The creature was shot in the air a short distance… then exploded, chunks of it going in multiple areas of the grounds behind it.

Except the head which flew a good distance actually toward the truck. As Jose and Kyler got in on opposite ends of the truck the head landed on the hood of the truck and it screamed as it did so. Kyler and Jose screamed as it did so, making them back away from the truck doors.

"SharpShooter, Glock." She commanded and the weapon formed into the Glock handgun. She aimed it at the head and it spun off the hood. They still heard it scream but she calmly went into the drivers side and looked at them.

"Hop in." She said. Jose climbed into the passenger seat quickly as he could and Kyler looked at the girl.

"I'll need to sit in the middle…" Kyler said sheepishly.

The girl actually shot him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but you'll need to hop in the back. My partner always sits next to me." She looked at the gun and spoke to it. "SharpShooter, turn back."

The gun flashed and it took form into the middle seat between Jose and the girl and they looked to see… to see…

"Bark!" The German Shepherd that now was in between them said, given that it was one of the only things it _could _say.

"You're weapon is a dog?" Kyler asked momentarily forgetting about current events.

"I'll talk about it later, but right now, _get in the back or I'm leaving you behind._" She said, her patience wearing very thin.

"Yes, ma'am." Kyler muttered and he did his best to crawl over and into the pick-up. After a few quick attempts he succeeded.

As soon as Kyler got in she went into reverse fast knocking Kyler around in the back and forcing Jose to lean out his window as she did a 180 and she quickly shifted gears and she sped forward quickly, making Kyler slide all the way to the back gate of the truck.

"Thanks for getting us out of their." Kyler said as he crawled to back window that was open. He said this in a pained voice.

"Yeah, really appreciate for the save." Jose said from his spot in shotgun.

"'Ain't no problem." She said as she looked at the road.

"No seriously, we would have been killed without you're help, Ma'am." Kyler said.

"I'm only 17, don't call me Ma'am." She said laughing a little. "My name is Mika. Mika Yukimura."

…

_The idea of PineOaks was inspired by (Probably already obvious) Silent Hill. If you have not heard of it, I feel bad for you._


	3. Chapter 3

"Lord Death, we are getting visual now." Stein had informed.

They were all in Death's room, Lord Death, Death the Kidd, Liz, Patty, Sid, and Stein around the mirror in the center of it all. Stein and Sid were standing on either side of the mirror and Lord Death stood at his usual distance from the mirror and Kidd was standing next to him his two pistol partners close behind him.

Liz and Patty were his two pistol Demon Weapons. Patty was blond, childish, dim-witted, and at times batshit crazy when need be or if situations are not in her liking. Liz was more mature but is easily afraid of the smallest things supernatural.

"Ah, that is good! What has come into view?" Lord Death asked in his high voice.

"Take a look and see for yourself, my lord." Sid said as he waved a hand at the mirror.

They gathered around the mirror and looked into it. The picture was fuzzy at first then it slowly began to clear and revealed an old classroom.

"Well, this is interesting." Lord Death commented. "Do you know where the transmition is coming from?"

"It's coming from around a small town called "LittleWood", in South Amarica. About 4 to 5 miles of LittleWood." Sid said.

"That's where Spirit is doing his mission with those two new students." The reaper confirmed.

"You mean Jose Granados and Kyler Jones." Stein said. It wasn't a question.

"You guessed it!" The reaper turned to the side as he said this in his good humor. "How did you know?"

Stein pinched the bridge his nose. "Because Spirit complained about them the day before, Maka related. Everything after should be selfexplainatory."

"Are you kidding!?" Death the Kidd asked irritated. "Do you know how many time's he put me to the far left of the classroom when he thought me and Maka were getting to close to each other!?" He suddenly fell to his knees and his eyes started to water. "When that happens… there are 31 students on one side of the room, and 29 on the other." He then bursted out sobbing and crying loudly on the floor like a man who had a loved one die.

"It's… so unsemmetrical!" He yelled. Patty then bent down next to him and her sister did the same on the other side.

"Its okay, Kidd-Kun." Patty soothed.

"Yeah don't let get to you, you freak." The other Thompson sister said with less emotion then her sister.

Then something could be heard from the mirror. At first it couldn't be heard from Kidd's sobbing, but there were footsteps echoing somewhere far off out of view. All sounds they were making stopped, Kidd silently wiping tears off his face his expression now completely serious, forgetting about the not-so-actually-horrid-thing that Spirit had done to him momentarily. The sounds were getting closer and closer, and the footsteps that were being heard sounded a lot like dressshoes. The sound paused and they heard a door creak open. Then the footsteps were much clearer and then the source was in vision.

Standing in front of the mirror was a little girl. She could have been no more then eight years old, and she was wearing a checked blue and white dress and had long black hair. They could only see her from the shins up. She stood there staring at them with emotionless eyes with her hands behind her back like a student talking to a teacher.

"Hello, young girl~!" Lord Death said cheerfully as always, even though the current circumstances were strange. "Can you tell us your name?"

She continued to stare at them.

"Well… can you tell us where your parents are?" Lord Death asked.

Silence from the child.

Stein stepped up and looked into the mirror with his gaze that was not recommended for children. "Have you seen a skinny white male and a stocky mexican male, the white one wearing an eyepatch?"

This was the only thing she responded to, and she did it with a simple nod.

"Do you know about there current wereabouts?"

She shook her head.

"Where was the last place you saw them?" Stein tried to pry.

"At the baseball field." She finally said.

"What were they doing there?"

"Jose and Kyler were fighting a monster." The little girl said a little more cheery then her current composer. Stein raised an eyebrow at this and Lord Death's face didn't change, but the air around him changed. Death the Kidd did the same as Stein and arched an eyebrow. Sid looked at the mirror confused. Patty looked bored and Liz paled.

"We didn't tell you there names, little girl-Chan." Lord Death said plainly.

The little girl's lips curved at the edges to form an innocent looking grin, but looked as if it said _I know something you don't._

"You want to hear me sing?" The little girl asked then giggled.

"No, we would rather hear you explain-" Stein began but was interrupted by the child.

"The bear climbed over the mountain, the bear climbed over the mountain, the bear climbed over the _mountain_, and what do you think he saw?"

The image blurred out into black then came back to life and things in the background changed. The curtains in the background were originally closed but now they were open and something was standing in view of the window. It was only visible from the shoulders up but its skin was charcoal black and looked like a statue. But they could tell it was alive because it was staring at the little girl with orange glowing eyes. It had a surprised look on its face and Liz screamed when she saw it.

"What do you think he saw? What do you think he saw?"

The screen faded out again and it came back into view. This time the statue had a look of pure anger and hatred that was nothing short of demonic. Its face was in a scream and its arms were in position of banging of the glass.

"The bear climbed over the mountain, the bear climbed over the mountain, the bear climbed over the _mountain…_"

The screen faded in and out. The creature's postions changed but it was still trying to smash through the glass and now there were three of them doing the same thing as the first. They looked as angry at the little girl as the original.

"And what do you think he saw?"

The screen once again faded in and out and now…

Now there were dozens of them all over the the window, with expressions of pure hatred. The glass was broken in areas and nothing was heard except the girl singing.

"Little girl, watch out!" Liz shouted from her spot behind Kidd as she peeked behind his shoulder. Patty and Kidd were also shocked but Lord Death, Sid, and Stein were looking at the scen before them with interest, curious what exactly was happening.

"Don't be afraid, Liz. This is just meant to make us lose moral." Stein said as he lit a cigarette, not afraid of the image.

The screen then turned to black again and the sound of glass shattering came through, along with a scream from the little girl. The screen turned back on only to show that one of those creatures were now staring into the mirror with its curious expression.

Then the screen turned into static and somewhere beyond the sound a little girl's chuckle was heard.

"Stein. Kidd. Liz. Patty." Lord Death said from his spot, his tone serious. They all looked at him. "Go to PineOaks. Go an assist Spirit, Maka, and Soul. And be sure to bring Black*Star and Tsubaki, as well as Crona and Ragnarok." The air around him turned grim. "We are looking at another possible Kishin and we will need all the help we can get if it _is._"

…

Mika was driving through the foggy town, the pick-up trucks engine purring with life and hiccupted every so often but other then that the ride was pretty smooth for the most part. Kyler spent the entire time peeking his head through the back window of the truck to join Jose and their two new companions. Kyler spent most of the time glancing at Mika's sweater where the arm sleeves where cut off. The hole was wide enough that Kyler could _definitely _make out some side boob. The bra was (Black) in the way of getting a really good view but he could make out some lining from the form of her breast, which was a nice size and shape.

_It's gotta be Ccup at least. _Kyler observed with interest. SharpShooter then saw that Kyler was looking at her breasts and the dog growled at him. Kyler scooted a bit backwards away from the dog. Mika glanced at Kyler when she heard the growl.

"Sorry, SharpShooter isn't really big on guys he doesn't know." She said then the dog licked her face making her giggle in a genuine sweet voice. Kyler blushed at this.

They continued to drive in silence, Kyler eyeing the dog and the dog doing the same to him bareing his teeth slightly. Kyler thought it best to just keep his eyes on the road. Jose saw all of this and was giggling quietly to himself making Kyler tell him to _shut up_ in sign language when Mika wasn't noticing. Jose's face contorted trying to keep him self from laughing.

The truck made a turn up a parking lot and the engine died when she turned the key in the ignition. Smoke started to rise from under the hood.

"Aw, shit." She muttered and she opened the door and hopped out, SharpShooter following behind. Kyler scooted to the back gate and opened it, slowly getting out too make it less painful for him. His back was _killing_ him.

Jose opened his door and was holding his ribs as he got out and he had trouble standing up straight. They were both in pain, mostly in the back.

Mika opened up the hood and smoke rose everywhere making her fan her hand in front of her face as she coughed. She waited until it cleared and she got a good look at what was wrong.

"Radiator's being funky." She confirmed. Jose limped to the front of it and took a look inside with her.

"You know about cars?" Jose asked with interest.

"Inside and out. My dad taught me everything about 'em." She said as she closed it, Kyler showing up on the other side as she did so.

"Anyway, follow me. I have a place I've been crashing in for awhile." She said walking ahead of them, the german shepheard loyaly beside her. Kyler and Jose followed, taking a good look at her ass while they were at it feeling no guilt, the skirt bring the right enough size to show the shape of it. If someone where to see the scene from far off it would have looked like two zombies chasing after a woman's flesh.

When a small building appeared from the mist she ran up to the building and then she opened the door and SharpShooter went ahead and looked inside. The dog came out and barked at Mika confirming that everything was clear. She looked back (Jose and Kyler quickly shot their heads back up) and waited for them to catch up. When they were inside Mika took a quick look outside then gently closed the door behind her. Before them was a hallway with doors lining down the walls and a stairway at the end of the hall.

"We don't really need to worry about the truck for now. There isn't anything we can really do but we have plenty of water to fill 'er up if we need to." She said as she walked down the hall. Kyler and Jose followed her and she stopped and went to the third door down to the left.

"It's kind of like our apartment back home, huh?" Kyler commented.

"Yeah."

She let SharpShooter in the room first and then dog came back a moment later to bark with comfirmation and she went inside and held the door open once again for the boys. They went inside and got a look at the room. It was a small apartment and most of the furniture inside still layers of dust on them. There was a tiny hall in the far corner (They assumed it led to the bedroom and restroom). The living room had the furniture that would be expected, couch, reclinable chair, and small TV (Looked like it was from the 70's) and a coffee table in the center. There was also carpetinging and the other half of the room was a kitchen with a sink and fridge.

"Water runs, but I don't trust drinking it." She said as she took off her shoes and threw them in the cornor. "I have a water bottle and a few Coca-Colas I snagged in the fridge. Help yourselves." She said as she plopped on the recliner.

Kyler walked to the fridge and saw that there was soda in the fridge. He grabbed three of them and sat on the couch that Jose currently sat on. He tossed one to Jose and limped over to Mika to hand her one also but she held up a hand to stop him.

"Just toss it." She said and prepared her hand to catch it. Kyler just did as he was told and she caught it with ease.

Jose looked at the botte and was surprised to see it was an older bottle that required a bottle opener. He turned his hand into the gun muzzle and used it to open the bottle. Kyler looked over to Mika and she used her key to open it and she tilted the bottle to pour some into ShardShooters mouth. Kyler looked at his bottle with disappointment.

"Want some help opening yours?" Mika said as she got up. She walked over and tried to get the bottle from Kyler. The dog gave Kyler a look and Kyler took that as a warning.

"No, I'll just-" Kyler said backing up then his face twitched and he held his back.

"Did that 'Thing' get you pretty hard?" She asked with concern on her face. Kyler blushed. She grabbed his shoulders and turned him around making Kyler give a quick moan of pain. "Get on your knees and take off your shirt." She told him.

"Wait, what?!" Kyler asked surprised.

"Just trust me. My mom used to be a chiropractor and she taught me a bit about it." She said as she got on her own knees. Kyler quietly got down on his and he took of his jacket. He was about to take off his shirt but then he glanced at the dog and it stared at him.

"Don't mind the dog, he won't bite unless I tell him to. Or if finds you threatening, which I doubt he will."

"Hey!" Kyler whined and she giggled again, making Kylers ears turn red. Kyler glanced at Jose who was grinning and pointed to his ear. Kyler used his middle finger to scratch his face and glared at Jose as he did so. But Kyler obeyed after a minute and he slowly brought his shirt over his head and revealed his upper body.

Kyler felt soft, gentle hands touch his back up and down and his face was turning crimson. "Kind of scrawny, aren't you?" She teased. Kyler just remained silent. She kept feeling his back until she paused at his mid section.

"Okay, I feel a lot of tension here. It's in other places but we'll deal with this first." Kyler felt her hands come off his back. Kyler had a brief fantasy that involved oil as he thought she was getting that but this was interrupted when he felt her suddenly jab her fingers into his back and it popped as she did so. Kyler had a quick moment of misery, and he screamed out when she did:

"SON OF A CUM-GUZZLING WHORE!" He screamed.

"This is going to hurt, by the way." She said her voice completely innocent. "But don't worry it will be over in a minute."

She jabbed her hand into another part of his back and she did this a few more times. Kyler was shouting multiple obsinities as she did this.

"So, you guys wake up here too?" She asked as she placed a hand on his lower back and used the other to pull Kyler backwards, making him give a weak whine his cursing ceasing.

"Yeah." Jose confirmed surprised as she continued to work on Kyler. "That's how you got here too?"

"Yeah, I've been here for awhile. About a few months." She then laid Kyler on his stomach and she placed her foot in the center of his back and she grabbed both of his arms and pulled, his screams getting weaker from earlier screams.

Jose only stared at her. "How the hell did you survive this long?"

"The first week, I almost didn't. I didn't even expect SharpShooter to come to the rescue until he did." The dog barked in mention of his name. "He ran all the way from home over here to see me. His paws were bleeding when he came up." She looked at the dog affectionately. The dog panted when she did.

She then turned Kyler to the side and she was bringing his arm around his head until she couldn't pull further but she kept tugging anyway.

"HELP ME, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" Kyler muttered as she did this.

"You from around here?"

"Yep."

"But…" Jose trailed off.

"I'm Japanese, yeah." She smiled over at Jose. "Don't be awkward asking. I don't mind answering. " She looked back at Kyler as she did here work. "I was adopted when I was a baby. I don't know who my real parents are, and I don't care. My last name may be Yukimura but I consider myself a Matthews." That would also answer why she has a southern Amarican accent.

She then got off of Kyler and stood up brushing off her skirt. "Well, how do you feel now?"

Kyler panted as he got up, giving the girl an evil look. "I FEEL…" Kyler considered it for a moment and he stretched and his features softened. "Actually, I feel pretty damn good. Hell, I feel better then I ever have!" Kyler said laughing a little. He looked at the girl with appreciation. "Thanks!"

She smiled back. "No problem."

"How did you find us?" Jose asked.

"SharpShooter was barking all of the sudden and he kept looking at me to go to the direction he was doing it. And SharpShooter has saved my life more times then I can count so I decided and then I met you two. So it's thanks to SharpShooter that you guys are alive right now."

Kyler and Jose looked at the dog with a newfound appreciation.

"Well, it's your turn." She said looking at Jose.

Jose paled remembering what had happened to Kyler. "I think I'll skip that…"

"Trust me, Jose, it's worth it." Kyler had said getting his shirt back on.

"Oh! I just realized I never got you're guys's names!" Mika said with realization.

They looked at each other then back to her.

"Kyler."

"Jose."

"Nice to meet you, Kyler and Jose. I guess we're going to be friends for awhile, right?" She asked with a smile. Kyler and Jose showed their own in return.

"Yep." They confirmed.

…

Maka, Soul, and Spirit waited next to the police cruiser where Sheriff Matthews sat in the driverseat smoking a cigarette where he briefly hung his hand out the window and tapped the tabbaco stick making a little chunk of ash fall to the ground. Soul was currently trying to calm Maka down and Spirit just stood there and watched knowing that anything he did would not help. The last thing she needed was him.

"Maka, are you okay?" Soul asked as he put a hand on her shoulder for comfort and she placed her gloved one on his in appreciation. "What happened back there?"

"It… _saw_ me." She said with a shutter. "When I was looking for Kyler-Kun and Jose-Kun, something looked back at me while I was looking in there."

"What saw you?" Spirit asked.

Maka just shook her head, not in the mood to be angry at her father. "I don't know, but it felt like…"

She shook her head and pointed toward the fog her finger trembling slightly. "It felt like that _that_ was looking at me…" She trailed off.

"PineOaks was watchin' ya." The Sheriff said as he dropped the butt from the last cigarette and brought another one out of his pocket to light up next. "Felt like that, didn't it?"

Maka and Soul just stared at him and Spirit raised an eyebrow. The Sheriff raised his hands in the air and he laughed humorlessly. "I don't need any of 'yer fancy 'Soul Perception' to know what that feels like. Everytime I'm here it feels like when I look into the fog something is trying to have a staring contest right back at me." The Sheriff took a long drag letting the smoke enter his longs then he exhaled it in one large exhale. "PineOaks is alive. That's the only way to describe it."

Maka just nodded understanding what he meant. Everything that he had just said was what exactly what it felt like, word for word. Maka took a look back into the fog and stared at it. As she did this, he pocket suddenly vibrated making her jump and Soul put a hand on her shoulders again.

"Easy there." Soul soothed.

Maka nodded and she brought her hand absently into her pocket and when he hand came back a hand mirror was in her palm. The reflection was gone and a strange rippling water effect was going through the surface. Lord Death was calling them.

Maka tapped the center of her mirror and the face of the cheery reaper was in place of the relection. "Hello, hello~!" Lord Death said cheerily as always.

"Hello, Shinigami-Sama." Maka said with the best smile she could muster.

"Maka-Chan! Good to see you! Is your father with you?" The grim reaper asked politely.

"Yes, sir."

"Could you please put him on the phone please? I need to talk to him privately." He said.

_Not exactly a phone. _Maka thought as she brought the mirror to her father. "It's for you."

Spirit grabbed the mirror from Maka and he walked a short distance away. "Look, Lord Death." Spirit said quickly. "Maka confirmed that Jose Granados and Kyler Jones are okay, so you don't have-"

"Spirit-Kun, I need you to listen to me, alright?" Lord Death asked him in a serious tone. Spirit's mouth shut with a snap. "Spirit, we are going to send some of our top Eater class students and Stein over there to help deal with the situation. Matters seem to be more dire then we expected." Spirit just blinked at the reaper surprised from his sudden announcement. Lord Death then told Spirit about what happened in his calling mirror earlier that day, about the little girl and how she confirmed that they where still alive (For the time being) and what followed. Spirit just looked at Lord Death as he spoke, taking every word seriously.

"Understood, Lord Death." Spirit said and nodded with comfernation.

"Until then don't do anything until the others arrive. I do not know when they will get there but just sit tight and wait." Lord Death ordered.

"But what about Kyler and Jose?" Spirit asked.

The reaper just leaned forward. "At this time, all we can do is hope that they can survive until then. If not, Spirit, you know what will happen…"

Spirit paled. "I understand, Lord Death. We'll stand by and pray for their safety."

The reaper gave one more nod then the mirror blinked back into a real one. Spirit sighed and walked toward the fog and he tossed the mirror to Soul who caught it reflexively. "We're ordered to stay away from PineOaks until back up arrives. Lord Death's orders."

Maka paled and she sat up quickly. "But Jose-Kun and Kyler-Kun…" Maka tried to argue.

"I know, Maka, I know." Spirit said apologeticly. "But we're given orders to wait. Stein and you're other friends are coming here to assist us. Just be patient."

Maka looked saddened and she leaned against the car. The Sheriff saw her in the rear view mirror and gave a sympathetic look. Soul had put his hand on her shoulder once again and she grabbed it in appreciation as she smiled at him. He returned it with his spike grin.

_Kyler. Jose. _Spirit thought as he stared into the fog. _Poor kids. I don't even think they realize how bad the situation for them is, being in there with the strangest Afreet egg we have seen. _

…

Jose got his shirt on as Mika stood up and dusted off her skirt as she did with Kyler. Like Kyler he felt good as new, except… 

"Your back should be alright but a rib or two have hair line fractures." She said with a look of concern. "You're very lucky to be off with just that but your going to have to see a real doctor for a proper treatment. I'm sorry I can't do anything else."

"It's cool, I feel a lot better then I did earlier." Jose said as he got his jacket on after his shirt.

"Um…" She tried to ask something but then she blushed a little and kept quiet.

Kyler raised his eye at this. "What?" He had hoped in the back of his head that she would ask him out.

Instead she blushed further. "Um… do you… have any food?" She asked and her stomach growled making her turn her heads down. "Me and SharpShooter haven't eaten in about two-and-a-half days."

Jose shook his head and Kyler was about to also before he recalled about there find in the cafeteria earlier that day. Kyler stuck his hand in his pocket and brought out two yellow spongecakes in cellophane wrapping. Mika saw this and her eyes suddenly widened and drool dripped down the corner of her mouth.

"I have some Twinkies from earlier today." Kyler said andf he tossed then to her and she caught it. "You can go ahead and-"

She ripped the wrapping off like a wild animal before Kyler could finish and all he did was stare at her like one would stare at a rabid cat go after a mouse. She got half of the wrapper off and she then shoved it into her mouth using her other hand to grab the bottom wrapping and pushed the rest of it out. She ate it in two swallows. She then opened the second wrapping and brought her hand down for SharpShooter to eat and the dog snatched it out of her hand and ate it greedily. When she was done she took a deep breath and she blushed when the food settled in her stomach.

"Sorry." She said very embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it." Kyler said as he brought one more Twinkie from his jacket (The last one) that was slightly squished from the paperweight that was in the jacket with it and tossed it to her. He tossed it and she caught it forcing her self to slow down as she opened it. She then plopped herself back onto her chair and SharpShooter then jumped onto her lap and layed across, too big for him to be doing that but the dog didn't care.

Kyler and Jose sat onto the couch and silence followed for some time, except for the quiet sound of chewing. During the silence Mika had given SharpShooter the other half of the sponge cake to him and the German shepherd licked her face in thanks.

"I have a question." Jose asked. Mika just nodded and waited for him to ask. "How is it that humans are supposed to be the only ones who can become demon weapons and yet you have a dog that can turn into multiple gun-based weapons?"

Mika petted the top of the dogs head and SharpShooter closed his eyes to fall asleep. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Come on, we're all friends here, right?" Kyler said curiousity about the dog now eating him up when he thought about. "How bad can it be?"

"It's not exactly a _pleasant_ reason." She said getting a little defensive.

"Okay, look, if you don't wanna talk about it we'll drop it." Jose raising his hands like a shield. "But just remember that at this point secrets don't really matter since we might not live long enough to even tell anyone even if we wanted to."

"Dude!" Kyler yelled shocked.

"Kyler, we nealy died not even an hour ago." Jose said looking to Kyler with a bitter but truthful face. "And our life was on the line more then once. I want to survive as long as we can, don't get me wrong, but we might not make it. That's the truth." He nodded to Mika who was starting to go from irritated to feeling awkward. "She's lived this far because she can control demon weapons better then most of the students of seen back at DWMA."

"You guys are from _there_?" Mika asked surprised. Jose didn't answer her but kept looking at Kyler who was now looking at his shoes, the eye patch covering any emotion that would have been in Jose's view. Jose didn't actually hint to this but Kyler remembered that he himself is of the percent of the people who still couldn't control the power of their weapon partners. That statement had hurt Kyler more then Jose would know knowing that he still couldn't help control the power of his bestfriend.

"If I tell you about SharpShooter," Mika had said in the awkward situation. "You have to promise to keep this to yourselves to your _grave_. Okay?"

Jose and Kyler nodded and looked at the girl for an answer. She sighed and slowly petted the dog. "SharpShooters mama and her mama's mama and so forth were actually owned throughout the Matthew's household for generations. This goes back to the 60's. ShaprShooters bloodline goes down quite a ways."

"That still doesn't-" Kyler began.

"I'm getting to the point." She said with another sigh. "Back in those days, thought, the Matthew family wasn't exactly a… _respectable_ group of people. They bred their dogs well, but they didn't exactly do it with just dogs." She looked at them and waited for Kyler and Jose to process what she said. When they still didn't get it she continued to explain. "The Matthews actually have some Demon Weapon blood down the line…"

Jose was the first to realize what she was trying to imply and his face contorted into a look of disgust. "They had sex with the dogs."

Kyler looked at Jose then back at Mika waiting to see if this was wrong and when she nodded he looked physically sick.

"And when a male has sex with a female and… _finishes _inside the DNA of the male gets mixed with the female, one of the reasons why the child has genes from both parents. And when the males from the Matthews did that to the female dogs the puppies got a little bit from that in the future." She then glared at both of them. "_But_ they aren't like that anymore, at least as long as I have been there. And if you say anything I'll have SharpShooter blow you the _fuck up_. Understand?"

"No judging, remember?" Jose said and Kyler nodded in agreement. "And your secret will be kept to our graves."

_Which could be sooner, so you said. _Kyler thought in glum.

"My question is how the hell you got so skilled with him as weapon?" Kyler asked.

"I trained with him out in the field, shooting at hey stacks. He was an assault rifle at first. After about half a year of training with SharpShooter I was able to have almost complete control of it, and I was able to change his form. I didn't even know the multiple form thing was rare until now."

"By any chance, did any farm animals get hurt in the process?"

"No, but just in case I got one of our old trucks that are way beyond repair just in case it went all the way through."

Jose leaned toward Kyler and whispered: "We should have done that."

"Too late now though, isn't it?" Kyler whispered back in an irritated tone.

"But I have a question for _you_ guys now." She asked then with a raised brow. "Why is it that you guys are Meister and Demon Weapon and said Meister wasn't using said Demon Weapon?"

"Kyler doesn't know how to control me as a weapon." Jose deadpanned. Kyler stared at Jose and thought: _What the fuck, bro!?_ Kyler thought that she would laugh at this but instead her eyebrow rose further.

"If that's the case, why are you guys here?"

"Stupid reasons." Kyler said. She asked him what he meant from that and they both explained what happened the past two-and-a-half days (Excluding the part where he basically dropped Maka from his mind and wanted Tsubaki and Kyler changed up the part where Black*Star chased them throughout the halls was instead that Stein interviened right away and hoped Jose wouldn't correct him on this) and she kept nodding sympetheticly.

"So basically you're here because of some asshole, who happens to be a higher up." She said after their long explanation. "At least you guys are hanging out again after all that time."

"I _really_ wish it was under better circumstances." Kyler said.

"Yeah, no shit." She said not unkindly. She looked at the boarded up window and saw that the cracks that revealed the light in the fog went dark. "I guess it's about time that we hit the hay." She said gently waking up SharpShooter who yawned. She got him off and she got up and stretched making her breasts do a quick bounce. She then walked to the tiny hall in the corner. "You guys can make yourselves comfortable in here, right?"

"I call the couch." Jose said, shoving Kyler off with his hands then he spreading his arms and legs on the other seats.

"Bitch." Kyler muttered from his spot on the floor.

Mika giggled. "Good night." She said before going to her room.

"Night." Kyler and Jose said back. They heard her footsteps walk down the hall and then a door opened then closed.

"She's hot." Jose commented when she left.

"Got some nice shapes, too."

"Forgetting about Tsubaki already?"

"No, and fuck off." Kyler muttered and turned to fall asleep. Kyler thought that he would have trouble falling asleep given the events that occurred today and that they were still _in_ a nightmare city. But he found it easy to fall asleep after about 10 minutes. He was more tired then he thought.

…

Maka was sitting in the motel room that Kyler and Jose previously rented on the bed closest to the door and Soul sat on the opposite bed watching television on an old TV. Maka was looking at the screen as well but wasn't really watching it. She was wondering if Kyler and Jose were in trouble. She couldn't help but feel it was her fault that the boys were in this situation because of her stupid, over preotective father. He was the reason that Kyler and Jose were currently in PineOaks but the only reason he took them there in the first place but it was only because he thought they were talking to Maka in the first place.

She sighed and Soul glanced at her when she did this. He could tell that she was beating herself over the whole situation. He knew it was better to just let her mentally sort this out so he kept quiet and watched the TV.

A knock on the door was then heard and Maka got up to answer and open it. When she did, she saw it was the two Thompson sisters and Death the Kidd there, his expression serious.

"Hello, Maka. I see you are doing well." Kidd commented as he and the Pistol Demon Weapons walked as Maka stepped aside to let them in.

"Not as well as I wish I could be." Maka said closing the door. "I'm glad you guys are here. Stein and the others here yet?"

"Black*Star and Tsubaki should be here soon, they took a small detour for Black*Star to eat, and you know how long that will take."

"Probably take him longer so he can boast about his 'greatness'." Soul said from the foot of his bed.

"That's what I was referring to." Kidd said in good humor then turned serious. "Crona and Ragnarok were dragged with them and Stein is with Death Scythe on the borders of the town."

"PineOaks." Maka stated with a shudder. "How long has Stein been there?"

"We were with him for about half an hour before coming here and he made the same evaluation you did: The Afreet egg is on the verge of becoming a Kishin and that Jose Granados, Kyler Jones, and the other two souls are alive. The town is not safe to enter until everyone is gathered up. We go in at dawn."

"Understood." Maka said nodding with a small frown.

…

Spirit and Stein stood there in silence staring at the fog. The Sheriff had been sitting in his cruiser on the side of the road, smoking cigarret after cigarette, a small pile of ash next to the cruiser door.

"I'm going to make a run for some more smokes. Any of yall want anythin'?" The Sheriff asked turning over the engine.

"A pack for me too. And a few of those Swiss Rolls." Spirit requested.

"Just a pack of cigarrtes for me thank you." Stein requested unemotionally.

The Sheriff nodded and backed up and did a 180. The cruiser drove forward with a line of smoke coming from the exaust pipe then the vehicle disappeared with distance.

"You really screwed up on this one Spirit." Stein commented. "What did I tell you before you left to talk to Lord Death?"

"Not to do anything drastic." Spirit muttered quietly.

"And what is it that you did, Spirit?"

"Hey, back off! How was I supposed to know things would turn out this bad? I thought it would be an average mission!"

"ANY of the missions would be too much for the Not class, Spirit, all of this because you wanted to 'protect' Maka." Stein then put a hand on Spirits shoulder. "You need to learn to let go, Spirit. Maka's not a little girl anymore."

"She's still _my_ little girl." Spirit said shrugging Steins hand off. "I wish things were back the way they were but they aren't. I know what I did to Kyler and Jose was wrong, but everything I do… I have Maka in my heart while I do it. I even give her a cut of my pay for her living expences, and she still turns me away."

Stein said nothing and his expression did not change. Spirit sighed. "Forget it, you already know this. Is there anything else you feel about this place?"

"Nothing that Maka didn't already inform us." Stein said looking into the fog. "There's just something that is worrying me."

"What is that?"

"You said that Maka was giving temporary Soul Perception to Kyler Jones the day before this happened right?"

"That is correct." Spirit confirmed with distaste.

Stein then pointed to PineOaks. "That place is ridden with madness, as you already know. They had been there for so far a day-and-a-half. They should have been feeling the effects pretty quickly."

Spirit paled. "So they-" Spirit blinked. "Wait, what does this have to do Maka?"

"As you know, Maka not only has the ability to repel Black Blood but she also has a natural immunity that is able to repel madness to some degree. When she opened her soul to Kyler some of the immunity should be ligering with him for maybe another day. He should be fine until we go in there."

"Then if Kyler will be fine until then, what is there to worry about?"

"Jose Granados. He is Kyler Jones's current weapon and he is in use, meaning that the immunity can pass through Jose Granados to some extent but not as much as Kyler Jones currently has." Stein pondered for a moment. "The other two souls have me wondering though."

"Meaning…?"

"Meaning Jose Granados should no longer have any immunity. He should be more vulnerable to the madness around now."

…

Jose had awoken in the middle of the night with his bladder in the need for releasing, looking at the dark cracks of the window to confirm the time. He briefly glanced at Kyler who had his arms extended out like a sleeping puppy and was drooling slightly with an idiotic grin. He assumed that he was having a dream about a girl (Or three) and looked ahead to go to the hallway which had a restroom. The carpet covered floorboards creaked with each step and a little amount of dust puffed out from not being vaccumed after a long period of time. He was then in the small hallway and there was a door at the end of the hall and to the end on the right. To the left was another boarded up window with nothing but darkness shining through. The laughing moon could not be seen through the fog, as well as nothing else. Jose walked down the hall and opened the door at the end hall assuming it was the bathroom.

When the door opened Jose's eyes went wide at what he was seeing. He had not actually opened the door the restroom but instead opened the door Mika's bedroom and what he saw had given him a nosebleed. Sharpshooter was sleeping at the foot of her bed spread out with his tongue lolled out in the corner sleeping like the dead and snoring.

Mika, on the other hand, was sleeping in a curled up fedoposition the covers also being kicked off to her feet and were partially covering SharpShooter. Mika was sleeping without a shirt… or pants… or a bra…

The only thing the white haired girl was wearing was a pair of black panties and nothing else, her breasts being exposed to the air. Her arms were covering sight of her nipples but everything else he was just well (Her lamp was still on and he assumed that it was on at all times). She had a peaceful sleeping face and where the right arm was covering her chest the left arm was extended to use her left hand as a pillow. Jose was frozen like a dear in a headlight. The light seemed to make her body glow.

She curled up more exposing more of the bottom of her breast and she stirred. Out of realization of what he was doing (And fear that she would wake up) he quickly and quietly closed the door using the sleeve of his jacket to wipe the blood from his nose. He grabbed the other door knob and opened to see a toilet, sink, and bath/shower. He went in and quickly flipped the lid up on the toilet, unzipped his pants, and let nature take its course. He sighed in relief and when he was done he flushed the toilet and zipped his fly. What happened moments ago was still fresh in his mind and his nose leaked blood again. He shook his head and turned on the water instinctively to the cold tab. He realized what he did and was surprised to see that water still worked around here.

_If the tab still works, why does she need drinks in the fridge? _Jose thought. He shrugged and brought his hands in the cold water then used them to wash his face. He used his hands to wipe his face thoroughly for a good minute then turned off the tab. He blindly used his hands to search for the hand towel that he could have sword was next to the sink. He kept feeling around until he felt familiar cloth. He then yanked it to wipe his face dry. When he was done he set the rag back on the counter he blinked his eyes until his vision came back into focus. He was waiting to look into the mirror to see himself in his reflection but instead saw something else.

When his vision cleared instead of seeing himself in his reflection he instead saw, much to his surprise, a little girl on her knees on top of sink to be head level with Jose. Jose jumped at the sight of her suddenly being there and let a startled sound that wasn't loud enough to alarm anyone. Jose stared at the little girl waiting for her to do something. Again to his surprise the little girl looked like she was about to cry. And looking at her dress, she already had. There were droplets of water that were obviously tears on the front of her blue and white checkered dress and her long black hair was messy. Jose's brotherly instincts kicked in and he was instantly worried over the little girl (Failing to remember that she was currently looking at him through a reflection).

"Hey, are you alright? What happened?" Jose asked trying to put a hand on her shoulder but he instead bumped his hand on the surface. "And how did you get in there?"

"I don't know!" She then started to break into a childlike sobbing that would break anyones heart. "I don't know why I'm here!" Her voice sounded as if it were muffled.

"Okay, okay! Calm down!" Jose said in a soothing tone. "What happened before you got… _stuck_ in there?"

She shook her head shuddering and half sobbing.

"Come on, you can talk to me here."

The little girl eyed up Jose and she used her hand to becon him closer. Jose obeyed and he pressed his ear against the mirror. Despite the mirror being a wall, he could feel the girl's breath on his ear as she whispered to him: "Welcome to PineOaks, home of the Grizzly Bears."

Jose was then being pulled through the mirror with incredible, abnormal strength to the mirror. He himself was not being pulled through but the back of his head was hurting as the glass was cracking from the pressure. He was about to scream but then the tiny yet strong hands were now around his throat choking off anything he was going to yell.

The hands slowly and accurately turning Jose around to face the girl who turned from a sad and lost little girl to a sadistic looking psychopath, her grin reaching ear to ear.

"K-k-ky…" He tried calling for Kyler but no words could form. The girl's eyes started to turn darker and darker like black storm clouds coming in, her eyes becoming completely black. The darkness in her eyes began to manifest into actual clouds making her face seem like a chimney. The clouds then began to spiral now appearing to look like tiny tornados that were now reaching to Jose's eyes.

Jose's eyes widened at what he was seeing and he tried desperately to fight back but to no avail. He had even tried clawing at the little girls hands actually pealing flesh back to some extent buit the little girl didn't appear to care about this at all. If anything her grin widened. The black spirals were slowly doing to Jose's eyes and he let out a choking scream as he felt the pass into his vision, actually passing the eyeballs. He felt the stinging of campfire smoke go into his eyes making him want to try to rub it out but his hands were still concentrating on making the little girl let go.

The little girl was laughing uncontrollably. The laughing was mixed with maddening screams.

…

Kyler's eye fluttered as he awoke and he was not sure why to begin with. Lying on the ground made his back feel stiff so he streached his shoulders back followed by satisfying pops in his bones and he sighed with relief. He focused on the window that was boarded up and saw that it was darker. He couldn't have been asleep for more then 4 hours and he frowned at what awoke him. He slowly stood up with more pops from his legs and he then heard a faint sound coming from the hallway. He looked at the couch and saw that Jose was not there anymore and assumed that Jose had went to the restroom and was having… problems. He shrugged and went to the fridge for a drink.

…

Jose dropped to the ground gasping for breath between coughs. His eyes felt as though they had tiny burnt out campfires and smoke kept coming off the embers. In his ears he heard faint giggling of a child and he used his hands to smack the sides of his head to try to tone it out but to no avail.

"Shut up shut up shut up…" Jose kept muttering. When he felt his eyes begin to simmer down he opened them and was welcomed by blurry vision and faint nausea. He gripped the sides of the sink as he lifted himself up with struggle and he went back to try to look into the mirror to see if the little girl was still there. When he looked in the mirror all he saw was himself looking back at him. His eyes were red with irritation and his breathing was shakey as he used his hands to mow through his hair trying to calm himself. The giggling was still somewhere in the back of his mind and he tried to tune it out by muttering forcefully for the voices to be silent.

Jose needed to get Kyler. This place wasn't safe anymore. He opened the door quickly and he walked fast down the hall. He would get Mika in a few moments but for Jose Kyler took priority. His steps were still a little shakey but he was walking down just fine. He made the turn to tell Kyler but when he got to the living room his mouth went agape.

Standing on the floor where Kyler was sleeping was the little girl with her little grin. Her attire and hair were neat and clean.

…

Kyler popped the cap off of another bottle of cola with a bottle opener he found in the drawer next to the sink (Which he really wished he had known about earlier) and he raised the bottle then tilted it to pour the contents into his mouth. His eyes watered when he drank too much in one go the carbonation burning the back of his throat. Foam expanded in his mouth then died down. He forced himself to swallow all of it and he groaned in relief.

He turned and walked back to his spot on the floor next to the coffee table taking a slower drink this time. He used the coffee table to hold onto as he slowly lowered himself back into his current bed. He was sratching his face when he felt the cotton of his eye patch under his finger nails. He shook his head and removed the eye patch and stared at it. He had gotten so used to it that he kept forgetting that it was there.

He was about to put it to the side but he then shook his head again and put it back on.

He took another sip from his drink when he heard the sound of the bathroom door open. He heard slow footsteps come down the hall but was not wondering who it was. After knowing Jose for years he knew who the heavy footsteps belonged to. And indeed it was Mexican friend.

Kyler frowned at Jose's appearance and was going to ask him on this but his words died when Jose asked him: "What the _fuck_ did you do to Kyler?" He sounded angry.

…

Jose couldn't believe what he was seeing. The little girl wasn't even in the bathroom three minutes ago (In a mirror, he remembered) was now in the spot where his friend was sleeping. Kyler was nowhere to be seen.

"What the _fuck_ did you do to Kyler?" Jose asked with anger.

The little girl looked at him with that grin in silence. She briefly raised the bottle in her hand to drink her soda that Jose didn't know she had.

"Why do you want to know?" The little girl asked with innocence in her voice.

…

"Jose?" Kyler asked getting disturbed by his friend's question. He took a nervous drink from his bottle and he eyed up Jose.

Jose's eyes were red and looked irritated and his throat looked slightly brused. His expression was that of anger and his eye twitched slightly. His clothes were wrinkled and the collar of his jacket was slightly ripped.

"Jose, are you okay bro? What happened?"

…

To say Jose was angry would have been an underestment. Not only did this little bitch try to fucking _strangle_ him earlier but now she had donw something to Kyler and he now had no idea where the hell he was. His friend was in trouble and this bitch knew where he was.

"I'll ask you again, where the _fuck_ is he?" Jose said trying to muster all of his anger and impatience into that sentence.

…

"I'm right here, Jose…" Kyler said getting very uncomfortable with Jose's current…

He didn't know how to describe it and at the moment he didn't care. He tried to remember how close the front door was behind him and hoped to god that it wasn't locked. If he needed to get out of there, it would slow hin down to _unlock_ it.

…

The little girl waved a finger at Jose as if he were a child that had disappointed an elder. Jose was getting very impatient with the little girl. He took a step forward and the girl took a playful one back.

"Do you wanna know where he is _that badly_?" She asked as playful as her step.

…

"Jose… just back up, okay?" Kyler said taking a cautionary scoot backwards away from Jose's oncoming step. He took a quick glance behind him and evaluated the distance to the front door. It was around 15 to 20 feet. He wasn't able to tell if the door was locked or now but he might have to chance. He took another scoot backwards when Jose nodded his head as if was answering a question.

…

Jose nodded after the little girl asked that question and he stood there waiting patiently for an answer.

She rose her right arm and extended he hand to her neck then extended her index finger and she made a one move sawing motion toward her throat with a slashing sound edmitting from between her bared teeth.

Jose's eyes went wide with realization of what she was saying:

Kyler was dead.

…

Kyler was about to run when Jose's eyes suddenly widened. He was about to turn to run to the door but Jose, at that moment, moved much faster then Kyler by jumping onto him before he had the chance to move. Kyler cried out as Jose's weight landed at him from a short distance and he felt like his bones were going to break. His cry wasn't loud enough to call the help of even SharpShooter given that Jose had knocked most of the air out of him from the tackle.

Kyler only looked in fear at Jose as his face was suddenly becoming wet with tears, and Kyler was sure that Jose had lost his mind. Another thing that was disturbing Kyler was the look in Jose's eyes. It could have been just something his mind made up but he was sure that he saw within the color of Jose's eyes three other eyes with long and stretched pupils.

…

Jose couldn't help but let tears fall down his face after the news he heard from her. Kyler was dead. She _fucking _killed his best friend.

"You fucking bitch!" Jose said in a choked sob as the little girl was wrestling to get away. "You fucking killed him! You fucking killed my best friend, my brother! YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

Jose couldn't even form any rational thought as he was instinctively bringing his hands to the girl's throat. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sudden strong grip go around her throat and her hands went to his trying to pry them off, but he wouldn't have that. He instead tightened his grip feeling the meat in his hands squish cutting off any oxygen that would have gone to her.

Her expression turned from fear into anger and her head was then contorting at the speeds the monster on the baseball field, going to rabid angles and her features where moving so fast that her head was nothing but a blur, but Jose didn't care.

He didn't care that she was some monster like the rest of anything in town, she killed the man that was basically his brother she killed him she KILLED HIM, THIS FUCKING BITCH, THIS FUCKING SLUT KILLED HIM AND SHE WAS GOING TO PAY, SHE WAS GOING TO PAY FOR THIS, SHE KILLED KYLER, SHE-

…

-COULDN'T BREATH! OH DEAR GOD, HE COULDN'T FUCKING _BREATH!_ After Jose had accused Kyler of killing someone (He had no idea what he was talking about) then Jose suddenly grabbed onto Kyler's throat and his eyes went wide with shock when oxygen didn't go into his system. Jose was strangling Kyler and he used his hands to try to pry Jose's off but Jose instead tightened his grip making Kyler's eyes go wider with the sudden pain that now enclosed around his windpipe.

His hands gripped tighter around Jose's hands and he tried to pry them off with everything he had to gain back his breathing but Jose was far stronger then Kyler. But this didn't stop him, it was all he could think to do under the circumstances and he struggled greatly to just keep trying to get his hands off.

Kyler's hands were starting to get weaker and his mind was starting to go blank as darkness started to close around his brain which also felt like it was getting heavyer and lighter at the same time. Each time he tried to force himself to inhale all he felt was air trying to get pat a small gap. His eyes were watering and falling down the sides of his head like tears.

Kylers hands were slowly falling to his side and the world was starting to fall away. This was bad: He was going to die at the hands of his best friend.

"You killed Kyler." Jose muttered with a sniff. Tears were falling down his face still. "You killed Kyler, you bitch!"

The words sounded far away as if he were talking to Kyler down from a tunnel. Kyler didn't know what Jose was talking about and he sure as shit didn't care. His hands fell to his side and they brushed against the side of his jacket, his right one brushing over the outside of his right pocket. He was vaughly aware of this and his hand went to it with new found strength trying to ignore the pain in his throat as he did this.

His hand went slowly into his pocket and it weakly brushed against an object inside of it and his eyes that were squinting went wide with realization as he remembered what was in it.

He brought the object out as he tried to focus any energy he had left into what he was about to do. With a swift movement he slammed the paperweight into the side of Jose's head and he fell to the side holding his head with a cry of pain.

Kyler took that moment to enhale as deep as he could, and he gasped loudly letting the air cool his lungs. He let his arms drape to the side as he kept inhaling and exhaling loudly letting in air with a newfound appreciation. Air was good.

"What the _fuck _is going on!?" A voice asked loudly from the hall. Kyler didn't really care at the moment: he just _really_ wanted to catch his breath. But then he heard the footsteps approach them from the door followed by a low growl. Kyler knew SharpShooter and Mika were standing there now but he didn't have the energy to glance. "OH MY GOD!" She cried followed by barking from SharpShooter being protective of his master.

Kyler felt a shadow go over him and he moved his eyes to see Jose getting up. Fear drove him, along with adrenaline, to then tackle Jose to the ground before he got up, Jose making a heavy thud on the ground as he collided with the floor again.

Kyler heard the sound of SharpShooter turn into a weapon and he flashed into a firearm in the corner of his eye into Mika's hands and he was then alarmed.

"NO, DON'T!" Kyler yelled and he held Jose arms to the ground to keep him still, and it wouldn't take long for Jose to break his grip if he didn't do anything before then. He then brought his face inches of Jose's.

"JOSE, SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT!" Kyler shouted into Jose's face, leaving traces of spittle on his face. Jose shouted an obsinity and tried to fight back and was able to knock off one of Kylers arms. Kyler grabbed the paperweight the was about a foot away and hit Jose in his injured rib.

Jose cried out in pain and Kyler then hit Jose in the face with it, busting his lip open. Jose was _not_ going to like this later, but Kyler didn't care. He brought his face back into Jose's and he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"JOSE, I'M STILL ALIVE! _SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF THIS!_"

Jose's eyes started to admit black mist and in a moment his multi-eyed eye color turned back into his brown eyes and pupils and his eyes half lidded. Jose shook his head and slowly opened his eyes and looked at Kyler. When he saw it _was_ Kyler his eyes went wide and he shot straight up. Kyler got knocked off and he was about to knock Jose in the head with the paperweight when he saw that Jose's eyes were normal again.

"KID!" He jumped at Kyler and pulled him into a tackle embrace. "You're still ali-!" Jose's eyes went wide then his face contorted into pain and he held his ribs with a loud groan. "AW FUCK, MY RIBS!"

Kyler looked at the weight and he slowly put in his pocket. He went to look at Mika to see if she was still ready to kill one of them and his eyes went wide at what he saw.

Mika was standing there in nothing but her black panties, everything being visible. Kyler saw that her nipples were a bright shade of pink, and somehow having an RPK heavy machine gun made her seem actually hotter. Then he remembered that she was about to shoot one of them.

"You're naked." He was about to tell her to lower the gun, but his seemed to think that this took priority.

"And right now, I don't care." She said coldly. SharpShooter growled in his gun form. "What the hell happened?" She asked as she aimed the gun at Jose who was trying to cover from his rib injury. He then saw Mika, had a nose bleed, saw the gun, then put his hands up.

"There was a little girl in the bathroom." Jose said quickly. Kyler looked at Jose with a confused expression. Mika lowered her gun slightly to aim at Jose's chest her arm brushing her breasts making them squeeze together for a moment. "I followed her out here-"

"The bathroom?" Mika asked.

"Yeah, I-"

Before Jose could finish, she lowered the gun and walked the the bathroom, her breasts jiggling with each step. Kyler looked at Jose and whispered: "What the fuck, man?"

"I know what I saw." Jose muttered back.

"Oh, fuck _me_!" She shouted from the bathroom, annoyed. They heard her step back down to the living room as she dropped SharpShooter back to the ground as he turned back into a dog.

Before Jose could say anything she pointed at him.

"Did you _drink_ the water from the tab?" She asked her tone tired. She still didn't seem to care about her lack of clothing.

"Yeah, I-"

"The water isn't safe to drink." She said with a sigh. "That's why I get any bottle of water or anything to drink that isn't from the water main here, even to clean up with." She blushed and rubbed the back of her head looking sad. "I feel so stupid. I should have told you guys about this ahead of time. I'm sorry." She said very apologetic.

"NO NO!" Kyler said as his face and ears turn red as there was a cute naked girl apologizing. He was trying to fight nature in his pants from taking course. "You don't need to apologize!"

She then looked at Jose. "You said you saw a little girl?"

Jose nodded slowly.

"Then I think were in trouble."

…

The early rise of dawn was approaching, the sun laughing as it was coming into view with it's somehow never ending glee as Maka yawned from not sleeping as well as she wish she could. The fields around them were having a light mist rise off from the morning chill, the blades of grass having moisture stuck to them and shadows began to form from loan trees that had taken life years ago in random spots on the field.

Maka yawned again, last night's sleep not treating her kindly as worry clouded her mind making it almost impossible for her to walk in the land of dreams. Maka did her best to weave the sleep away from her eyes as Stein talked to her and the other students about their plan on how they are going in. The sheriff sat in his cruiser a short distance to the side, just watching and waiting while Stein was talking.

"We can't be positive on what will come at us and what won't." Stein was informing them, his back to the fog. "So we need to be prepared for anything that might be thrown at us. Next we…"

Maka turned her head to Tsubaki's direction and smiled at the girl. Tsubaki took notice of this and waved at her. Maka felt better knowing that she was there as well as Crona who was standing next to Tsubaki. She also felt relieved with soul next to her.

She hoped that Kyler and Jose were alright…

…

As Stein was giving the speech on what to do to go inside of PineOaks to retrieve Kyler and Jose, they along with Mika where making escape places of their own. Mika was under the hood of the pickup truck with Jose helping her out while Kyler sat in the driver side of the vehicle waiting for them to tell him to start the engine. He played the discussion they had shared last night and the plan that followed.

"_So you think the little girl _is_ PineOaks?" Jose asked in disbelief and Kyler tried not to stare at Mika's chest. Kyler couldn't think of requesting her to put clothing on so Jose had to ask instead. She looked down and shrugged and walked back in the room to put on an over shirt unbuttoned. _Modesty is the least of my worries right now, so I honestly don't care._ She had told them. _

"_I know it sounds weird, but when you said 'little girl' I knew who you were talking about. I saw her for awhile, than she eventually gave up on me." She said with a nod at the first few words of the sentence. _

"_Wait, gave up on you?" Kyler asked. "She did the same shit to you?"_

_She shook her head, much to their surprise. "She tried, I could tell. But when that didn't work, more of those monsters came after me. I think she has control over them." Jose was about to ask her another question, but she rose a hand to stop already aware of what he was about to ask. "How do I know? I've been here so long I had a long time to think about things. And coming up with that… it just makes sence. Like puzzle pieces falling together."_

"_If that's the case, why don't you leave?" Kyler aksed in curiousity. _

_Mika shook her head. "I've already tried a few times but everytime I got a car running to get out of here, those _things_ would outnumber us and I had to bail. I can't drive and shoot those things at the same time." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "It would help a lot more if _any_ of those things would die, but they don't."_

"_You killed that thing at the baseball field, remember?" Jose brought up._

"_It didn't die, though." She said with a tired expression. "Remember when I blew it apart and the headc fell on the hood? It still screamed, and it was still fully alive. Even the shot to the head didn't kill it. It's probably reassembled by now and waiting for the next person to come by as we speak."_

_Kyler briefly remembered the thing that was with them in the cafeteria. "People that come through here must feel like there in a nightmare." Kyler said speaking from experience. _

"_My dad cleared that up by closing off the road through here. He's the sheriff in Littlewood."_

_Kyler and Jose shared a glance, but thought it better to say nothing. There were multiple sheriffs, it was possible that the sheriff that Spirit met at the motel was one of the other ones. _

"_But," She said loudly to make sure she had their attention. "I have an idea. The last few times I tried to escape this hellhole I got outnumbered and I couldn't shoot any of them because I didn't have any free hands to even shoot with." She then looked up and her face brightened up with a smile. "But now we have extra hands." _

_She then came up with a plan and it was plain and simple: Jose and Mika get in the back of the pickup truck, Jose using his gun arm and Mika using SharpShooter to shoot away any of the monsters that come at them while Kyler drives on the main road back to Littlewood. Kyler's only driving skills come from Grand Theft Auto but he thought better to not mention that…_

"BITCH!" A voice yelled at Kyler snapping him out of his memories. Jose was yelling at Kyler from the hood.

"What?" Kyler asked as he jumped from the sound.

"I said turn on the fucking engine!" Jose called in irritation. Kyler complied and turned it over, waiting for the truck to roar to life. After a few moments of whirring sounds it did and Mika slammed the hood down in satisfaction. She was back in her normal attire that she had worn the day before. After they had made their plan Mika had gotten dressed and they waited until the fog was visible to see. It must have been around 6 or 6:30 A.M.

"Okay, we're all set!" Mika said as she hopped in the back of the pickup along with Jose. SharpShooter was already in the form of a Galil once again in her hands. "All we need to do is go onto the main road, which up to you now, Kyler."

Kyler hit the gas a little too quickly and Jose and Mika lost momentum and they fell to the floor of the truck with a thud.

"Easy!" Jose called out in irritation. Kyler pressed his foot gently on the gas pedal and it slowly went onto the main road. Kyler looked down at the discarded cars on the sides of the road and wondered if there were any in the middle further ahead.

"Kyler, get a move on!" Mika called. "Just hit the gas and we have it from there."

"What if a car gets in the way?" Kyler asked nervously.

"There aren't any cars! I went this way, remember?" Mika was silent for a moment. "At least I _think_ there weren't any."

"You think?!" Kyler called back in worry, starting to think that this was a bad idea.

"Just drive, Kyler!" Jose said.

Kyler gripped the steering wheel tightly and took a deep breath. He then slowly pushed on the pedal and went forward. He made sure that Mika and Jose had proper footing and then he made the truck gain speed.

Kyler was breathing fast very nervous that something would pop out to stop them from leaving. Kyler looked in the rearview mirror to see if Jose and Mika were still alright. Jose was looking left and right to see if anything was coming up his arm turned into a gun and ready to fire at any moment. Mika was looking behind and forward making sure that nothing was coming from the front or back. When Kyler saw Mika stay looking forward his brows furrowed and when he heard her fire her weapon he jumped, making the truck swerve a little.

Kyler looked ahead and saw a creature that was basically a minature version of the monster they had faced at the baseball field only where the creature was shorter the blade arm was longer. He faultered and steered to the right a little in surprise about to drive to the side to avoid hitting the monster.

"KEEP DRIVIN' FORWARD!" Mika yelled, her souther accent very thick in that sentence compared to all the times it was lightly used. It was enough to knock Kyler back to his sense to remember that he was _supposed _to hit those things. He went straight and went to hit the monster while it got shot by Mika as it froze in shock when it was getting punctured by bullets. A sickening thud came from the front of the trucks front and yellow blood splattered on the wind shield with small chunks. There was a grinding noise from the bottom as the creature fell and got scraped from the underside of the vehical and then it disappeared behind them with distance and fog.

Kyler felt a moment of relief and glee as he saw the body fall from view.

_We're gonna make it!_ Kyler thought in joy.

As kyler turned back to watch the road the relieving joy was replaced with fear and dispear. Coming up in view was a small blockade of cars about 70 feet from them. (The fog was thinning out as they got further away which they took as a good sign.)

"Don't stop!" Mika shouted over the blowing wind and postioned herself over the top of the driver seat. "SharpShooter, RPG!"

The weapon formed within her hands to turn into said weapon. 45 feet and closing in.

"Are you crazy!?" Jose shouted as he shot a monster from the distance far back, presumably the same one from earlier.

Mika ignored him as she aimed quickly and pulled the trigger. The cars fell in a firey explosion and flew to the sides. Kyler swore loudly as he tried to menuver the truck through in one piece. A large piece of metal with a bit of fire on it flew to the windshield on the passenger side, sticking halfway in with cracks spreading throughout the rest of the glass, hurting Kyler's view to some extent. One of the other cars had a large spike protruding from what used to be a door and stabbed itself into the side of the vehical making a horrid screeching noise that made Kyler grit his teeth and he was sure that Jose and Mika were doing the same. But they managed to drive through without too much damage and their limbs intact (Kyler was afraid that a random shard of metal would give Kyler an actual reason to wear his eyepatch).

Kyler slowed his breathing and tried thinking of pleasant things as he drove down the road trying his best to look like a badass as he did so in an attempt to hide his fear. A glance in the rearview mirror showed him that he looked more constipated then heroic so his features changed pretty quick back to default fear.

As he drove further down the sound of gunshots and a few explosions (Courtesy of the RPG form) was becoming more rapid and increasing in pace. More creatures of different shapes and horrors were latching onto the side of the car to try to stop them and Jose and Mika would just shoot them off while Kyler did his best not to jump and whimper everytime he heard a thud on the side of the vehical and inhuman growling.

And for a few moments there was silence from the weapons and only the sound of what Kyler could only compare to as a stampede. The window between the back and front opened and Kyler took a quick, jumpy glance to see Jose, his face ashy pale once again.

"Kyler, go as _fast_ as you can." Jose said in thinned voice.

Kyler took a glance behind himself and his face went white like Jose. A countless number of _things _were trailing behind them, almost taking the lower half of the rearview mirror. The fog hid most of the creatures in the back but the ones close enough were in view and each one Kyler tried not to take in detail.

Mika silently turned SharpShooter into a War Machine six cylinder grenade launcher and went trigger happy trying to blow as many of them as she could. Jose went back to assisting her by shooting the ones that got to close which was an uncomfortable amount. A handful of them tried to grab onto the truck to try and weigh it down but Jose was taking care of that as best as he could.

Mika's grenades were finally going off with thunderous booms sending bodies flying left and right. It wasn't really making a difference though. More stomped over the fallen to take places.

Kyler tried to drown out all his fears as he took deep hyperventilating breaths and slammed his foot into the pedal. The car was pushing 60 and rising.

"We're almost there!" Mika shouted. "If we get out of the fog they should stop following us! DON'T STOP!"

Kyler closed his eyes and hoped for the best not being able to take looking at the situation anymore. He screamed trying to shut out all of the voices in his head that were trying to tell him that he was going to die. Tears fought to escape.

…

"… now does everyone understand?" Stein asked after they went through the plan of entry.

"YEAH, WE GOT IT!" Black*Star shouted, impatience being the only tone. "NOW CAN WE GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!?"

Black*Star, much to their irritation, ran to the middle of the road, fog to his back. "HOLY AM I ALONE!..."

Black*Star tried to say more but he was cut off by a sudden sound. Everyone turned to the fog which was the origin of the scream.

Maka's eyes widened. She knew who's scream that was. She and her friends were constantly hearing it 3 days back: Kyler. But she also heard the faint screaming of Jose, which was odd since he stopped doing that after _his_ first day. The scream of a girl made her brows furrow.

"Is the dude screaming so loud that his voice turned into a girl's voice?" Soul asked loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I thought that _was_ his voice." Ragnarok answered.

"Wait… doesn't that mean that Kyler is coming this-?" Tsubaki was asking but was interrupted when the screams were becoming surprisingly louder… and closer.

Black*Star actually looked irritated and was about to yell at the direction to not interrupt his greatness but it fell into a short scream when he saw broken headlights of a truck. Black*Star got hit fast and the screaming of Kyler and Jose and what they saw _was _indeed a girl. They drove a good distance but the truck turned and hit a tree ceasing the vehical to a halt. Black*Star being dug into the fender with the blow held back most of the force.

"This just isn't my day…" Black*Star muttered in pain. "I think my spine is coming out my ass…"

Kyler groaned and slowly brought his head up from the wheel which his head slammed considerably hard on.

"Jose… Mika…" Kyler called out weakly. "You guys dead?"

"I kind of wish I was…" He heard Mika call back absently with difficulty. "Being dead wouldn't hurt this bad."

"I'm with her on that…" Jose agreed with a groan.

Kyler opened the door and broken pieces of glass fell to the ground with small clingy sounds. Kyler slowly got out of the truck and he fell to the ground in the process. He slowly brought himself on his hands and knees and opened his eye slowly. His vision was blurry and he was sure that he has a concussion. He focused on trying to make shapes his eyes squinting in concentration. When the tree and the destroyed truck zoomed back into focus he blinked. He looked around taking in the field and the sunlight the coming from the horizon, silently coming in while it laughs as it always-

Sun. Empty field. _Silence._

Kyler's eye widened and he spun quickly to look behind him self. A large ball of fog formed around a lone town making look completely unnatural (Which it was). A fog ridden town that _he _was no longer in.

He then looked down to the road and saw classmates from DWMA standing there looking at Kyler in as much shock that he was in, in the fact that he was alive, save Stein who was always without emotion. He took note that Maka was actually relieved to see him.

"It's nice to see that you and Jose made it out alive, Kyler Jones." Stein commented as he lit up a cigarette.

Kyler tried to reply but words failed him. Then he vomited. Everyone cried out or groaned in disgust but Ragnarok was laughing at his misfortune instead.

Kyler then shot head up and looked back toward the truck, a line of vomit trailing behind him. He saw Jose and Mika slowly crawling out of the back of the truck with the rest of their energy. SharpShooter had taken his form as he hoped out with ease. All he had to do was be a gun the entire time.

"I feel like I got bitch slapped by a freight train." Mika said hoping out.

The sheriff quickly got out of his cruiser and stared at the girl as she carefully got to her feet.

"Mika?" The sheriff asked in disbelief.

Mika looked at the owner of the voice in surprise. "D… daddy?"

Mika then started to slowly tear up with a sniff. She let out a cry of joy and sprited toward the officer, SharpShooter barking happily as he ran after her. She ran into officer Matthew's arms and cried into his chest. The officer looked like he was about to cry himself.

"Daddy!" She cried into his chest. "I… I-I-I…" But she couldn't form any words. All she wanted to do was be held in comfort by her father. SharpShooter was barking and running circles around them in joy.

"It alright, Mika." The sheriff soothed rubbing her back with his hand trying to calm her down. "You're safe now. No need to cry now, darlin'."

Kyler and Jose couldn't help but grin at Mika's reunion. She had put up such a strong front when she was getting chased by hundreads of demons, but they couldn't blame her for finally breaking down in relief.

Kyler walked toward the fog ridden town and Jose was shortly behind him. He was happy that they were there (Though he didn't know _why_) but right now he had something he wanted to do right now. Something he and Jose _deserved _to do.

Kyler and Jose brought both of their hands and aimed them to PineOaks and both extended their middle fingers. They stood there and gave the foggy hell one-figer two-handed salute that it deserved.

They took a deep breath and shouted in unison: "_Fuck you, bitch!_"

They both "Woohooed" and danced in a circle.

"We fucking made it! Suck my skinny, white _dick_!" Kyler shouted making most of the girls blush at his comment, excluding Patty who laughed. He knew he was going to regret it later, but is currently celebrating.

"And suck the broad side of _mine!_" Jose shouted with him.

"What the fuck can you do know, bitch?!" Kyler asked with his arms extended, his expression saying _come at me, bro!_

"What the fuck can you do know?!" Jose chided with him.

Then a very loud shriek of a little girl filled their hearing. The scream was ear piercing, shocking Kyler and Jose back into fright and everyone else was covering there ears. Crona wasn't, but he looked very uncomfortable.

The ground began to shake under them and it shocked half of them into falling. Mika was screaming and her father held her tight doing his best to keep her balanced. The dog was barking angerly at the scream.

At first the ground was the only thing shaking but then the town actually began to rise from the ground and they all stared at it wide eyed. The road in front of them rose to at least five-stories. Kyler and Jose strared in horror.

The giant wall of concrete in from of them shifted to show to large orange lights from within. Kyler and Jose screamed when they realized they were eyes. The new giant creature blinked rubble and large chunks of concrete fell with loud cracking sounds. Three pupils in each eye moved cross eyed to stare at the two boys. They turned and ran away from the shifting land. When they and everyone else got a safe distance they just stared the PineOaks which now basically looked like a growing mountain. Four pillars rose from each corner of the field. Each piller rose and they moved in a four-legged manner. The four legs moved and then set themselves firlmy on the ground and the center slowly rised. The spot that the eyes were extended as a head. After a few moments the entire town was now walking on four legs.

At this point, Kyler actually did piss himself, warmth spreading down his left leg. But he didn't care.

_It's a giant turtle._ Was all Kyler could think. I giant afreet turtle literally the size of PineOaks.

Maka could sense the madness oozing from the creature, the horrific power contained wthin. The creature's soul covered its entire body, clearly very powerful.

Mika was the one who broke the silence. In that moment that should have been feared, she had said one last thing in anger.

"OH THAT'S BULLSHIT!" She shouted at the top of her lungs giving all the anger she could muster.

The creature roared, the sound travelling miles on end causing people from LittleWood toawaken in the early hours of the morning surely.

"This is going to prove to be difficult." Stein commented as he flicked the butt of his cigarette away.

…

"See the Turtle of Enormous Girth"

"On his shell he holds the Earth."

"His thought is slow, but always kind."

"He holds us all within his mind."

"On his back all vows are made;"

"He sees the truth but mayn't aid."

"He loves the land and loves the sea,"

"And even loves a child like me."

- Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.


End file.
